Protection
by GNPotter
Summary: Harry did it to protect her, but how protected is she? After the HBP, Harry's seventh year. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

He watched the girl as she sat and looked out the window, he could tell how much she was hurting. He was supposed to protect her but he hadlet her get hurt, he did not do his job, he had failed her. Unfortunately, he knew there was nothing that he could do, what happened, happened, he knew why, understood why, heck, he probably bloody well would have done the same thing but as her brother, he wished that he could change it for her.

"Go away Ron," she said, with her back still to him as she continued looking out the window. He turned away and left her to be alone.

Of all her brothers, Ginny had probably become better friends with Ron than any of her other brothers, she appreciated his concern but she needed to be alone. She, like Ron understood why it happened, but she also felt that she did not have to like it, or agree with it. Her mother said there would be others, even her friends told her there would be others, but Ginny did not want others, she wanted Harry Potter. She was almost certain he did it just to protect her and knowing him, she could tell that he was going to put himself in a situation where he would be exposed and felt it was better to protect her. 

They had been home from Hogwarts for three weeks, Harry and Hermione would be joining them in another couple of weeks and Ginny knew that she had to be out of her funk by then. Bill and Fleur's wedding was in a month and she was a bridesmaid and even though Harry knew how she felt about Fleur she did not want to seem depressed. She had to make Harry think that she had accepted the choice he had made, even if he made the choice without her opinion. She had sent Hermione an owl that morning asking if she knew anyone that Ginny could bring to Bill's wedding, but she figured that Hermione would try to dissuade her from doing that.

"Ginny dear, could you set the table for dinner," her mother asked as she peered into the living room from the kitchen.

"Sure mum," she replied.

"Ginny dear, boys will be boys, you can't let yourself be sad over Harry. I know you think that you loved him dear, but you are only 15, how do you know that it was really love. You must move on dear." Molly Weasley told her daughter as she bustled around the kitchen.

"Humph!" Ginny replied under her breath, and rolled her eyes at her mother.

"What was that dear," Molly asked.

"Nothing mum."

"You forget dear, I was a mother long before you were born," she said. She walked over to her daughter and took Ginny's hands, "Now, what is it you said?"

Ginny thought for a moment before replying.

"I know mum, I just know. I know that I love him and he loves me. But you are right, I have to move on, if anything so he knows that I can, and I will, he'll wish that this was not the decision that he made," she told her mother confidently.

"Ginny, did you know that trying to make someone jealous usually has a way of blowing up in your face?" Molly paused before she said, "Just be careful dear."

"I will mum."

Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, and the two remaining children they had at home had a quiet dinner that night, they were each worried about their own things.

Mr. Weasley could not get off his mind the four-death eater attacks that occurred last night, what worried him more is how close they were getting to Surrey, and therefore Harry. Mrs. Weasley was worried about all of her children as any mother is at a time like this. Bill and Fleur were just starting their lives together, Percy was still being stubborn but they had been hoping some good would come from Dumbledore's death. Charlie was so far away, and her twins, well even at the best of times she worried about them. Then there was Ginny, she was so heart broken that she was going to try to fix it, which was probably going to hurt her more. Then, there is Ron and Hermione, which Hermione is not officially hers but she has a feeling someday Hermione will be, she was just glad they were starting to realize it. Lastly, there is Harry, who is another one of those that are not officially hers but may as well be. Poor boy, he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, having to fight Voldemort at just 17 years old, she wouldn't even wish that on Snape, wait maybe she would. Those three, she knew something was up with them. Ron and Hermione were not going to let Harry get into anything by himself, but maybe that was a good thing, someone had to help him and protect him, even if it is just from himself.

Ron was mad at Harry for hurting Ginny but was in a small way glad that he had. Ron now knew that he was protecting her and he preferred that, she would be protected now that she was no longer Harry Potter's girlfriend. Ron also worried about what was to come, after the wedding, he, Harry, and Hermione were leaving in search of the Horocruxes. He hoped nothing happened to Hermione; maybe he should try to convince her to stay, just let him and Harry handle it. 'Yeah right, Harry and I wouldn't make it very far without Hermione's brain.' All three of them knew that. He knew he needed to tell her how he felt before it was too late.

Ginny kept thinking through the different boys that she knew, 'Not Dean, he wouldn't come, not after last year, there's Neville but I think Harry would see through that. There is Seamus, which is a possibility, and then Colin, but then I would be miserable talking about Harry all night. Ohh, I do not know what to do, I have to get him back. Maybe I can follow him, Ron, and Hermione when they leave after the wedding.' Yes, that is what she felt she must do.

Suddenly the warning bells went off, startling the four sitting at the table. The alarms signaled that someone was approaching the Burrow and were within 50 meters and since family and Order members were the only ones who knew it was there, then it was apparent that it was someone who was a threat or a possible threat at least. The alarms had been installed just after Dumbledore's death, when they came up with several safety plans for while Harry would stay with them. The four jumped up from the table and into action. Ginny and Ron went upstairs to alert the Order for help. As they went upstairs, Molly and Arthur went outside for a "walk." They had gone out the back to look normal; as they rounded the garden into the front yard, they saw their intruder as ten or so witches and wizards portkeyed into the yard.

"No," Arthur yelled.

"HARRY!" Molly said before she ran towards him pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said with his mouth pressed into her shoulder, "I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry dear," she said as she held him away from her, taking in his appearance.

The other witches and wizards looked a bit relieved to see Harry.

"Wotcher, Harry. We missed you, but what are you doing here," Tonks asked. Today she wore her hot pink hair that she appeared fond of.

"Yeah, Harry don't you need to stay at your Aunt and Uncles?" Remus questioned him as he came up and patted Harry on the back. 

"Yeah, probably but they went out of town two weeks ago and won't be back until late August." Harry told the witches and wizards in front of him.

"You've been alone for two weeks, and didn't tell anyone?" The voice came from the Weasley's front porch, it was Ron, and you could see Ginny just inside the door.

"I needed to do some thinking and research, we will talk about it later Ron, Hermione will be here in the morning."

"You can talk about it with us Harry, we aren't just anybody." Tonks said slightly insulted that he would not confide in them.

"Tonks, I promise it is better that I don't tell you." He looked at Remus, "Any of you, you are better off not knowing."

"Some of us don't want you to protect us Harry." It was Ginny; she had pushed past Ron. You could hear the anger and frustration in her voice.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come," Harry said as he turned to leave.

"No, Harry." He turned and looked at Mrs. Weasley; the woman who he felt was his 'living' mother. "We, all of us (she looked at Ginny as she said this) are going to have to understand that you have to do this on your own, you need to know that we are here for you. No, we do not know what you have to do but you are special Harry every one of us has known that since the attack that … killed your parents. That is how we know that you have to do this thing you will not tell us about. I hope it is not what I fear it is, but you must know that everyone standing in front of you and many more are willing to offer any help you might need. You must know that the people that live in this house love you, and will love you no matter what even if you don't achieve you goal." Molly walked up to him and took him into a motherly embrace to show that she meant the last part. Arthur walked over and put and arm around Harry's shoulder, "You are like our seventh son and our eighth child, always remember that, no matter what happens." It was a moment between a mother and father and their son. "We never met Lily and James but, I know that they would be proud of you, because we are," Mrs. Weasley told him with tears in her eyes.

"I know that they would be proud of you too, and Lily would be glad that you have found a family to take care of you. James," Remus said with a smirk. "James would just be glad you found some brothers to play Quidditch with," he glanced back at the Weasley boys. "That was what they were worrying about before they went into hiding." He walked over to Harry and the elder Weasleys. "Your mum worried that if something happened to them, there would be no one to love you, but she didn't think about me and Sirius, because we both loved you like you were our own. Your dad was worried who was going to teach you things like Quidditch and about being a wizard, he was worried about who was going to teach you about (he glanced back at Ginny) girls. Sirius' biggest worry was that you would end up bitter and unable to love others (he said as he looked back into Harry's eyes). Harry, with Dumbledore gone this worries me too, you cannot push us away, (he looked back at the house and Ginny was gone this time.) any of us. Not telling us is one thing but do not push us away, even if you feel as if you are protecting us. Please, you will need us, and not just to fight."

"I know, it's just some things are easier to do if I know that certain people are out of harms way, it has to be done, sorry."

By this time, the other witches and wizards had either left or in the case of the Weasley boys and their girls gone in the house.

"Harry at the time we are in right now you are not going to be able to protect anyone, especially Ginny. Think about it, all of her brother, her mother and I are members of the Order of the Phoenix. Vol-de-mort knows that, by now he also knows how close you are to this family so he has many reasons for taking out any Weasley, that and the fact that we were close to Dumbledore, even if you had never met Ginny she would still be in danger."

"He is right you know. Voldemort wants to hurt you, but he wants to hurt the rest of us as well, dear," Mrs. Weasley added.

"You are just making things harder on the two of you. Don't lose the ability to love Harry," Remus said.

"Your right, you are all right. What have I done, she probably hates me?"

"No dear, but I believe that I heard her trying to figure out how to hurt your feelings like you have hurt hers. I think that you are the only one who can talk her out of the things she is considering doing to hurt you," Mrs. Weasley told him.

"I have got to find her," he said as he ran to the house.

"Do you think that she will forgive him Molly," Mr. Weasley asked his wife.

"If she knows what is good for him she will not make it easy on him that is how we women control the situations that we do not like."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Harry ran up the stairs and stopped in front of her door. He was not sure what to say to her to make her forgive him. He lifted his hand to the door to knock and a door down the hall opened. Ginny was coming out of the bathroom, she had her hand to her mouth and looked like she had been crying.

"Ginny, um… I was wondering if you would maybe talk to me, or let me talk to you and just listen, or pretend to listen," he said, as his words got softer and softer.

"Not now Harry, I need to … do …um, some … homework."

"But you have the rest of the summer, please Ginny, I think that I have made a mistake."

"Well you also have the rest of the summer to talk, and I THINK that it is too late for you to be thinking, anything." Ginny told him as she slamed her bedroom door.

'What have I done,' Harry thought. He turned to go the rest of the way upstairs to Ron's room where he stayed when he was at the Borrow.

Ginny stood on the other side of the door that she had shut and listened to his feet as he went upstairs. She did not know what to think, he finally came to his senses as she found out that he was right. She sat on the end of her bed and did not know what to do so for a little while, she let the tears fall. She turned around, climbed further on her bed, and buried her head into her pillow as she tried to quiet her sobs. She knew that she had to find an answer to her problem but she just needed a moment to cry about all of it, the problem, Harry, Voldemort, and the answer that she knew that she would have to make and except.

'Why now,' she thought. Why did he realize that he wanted her with him now, why not the day before he broke her heart, why not even before that, things would be very different right now if only he had known sooner.

She sat up on the bed and knew what her answer to her problem would be, had to be because there were more people involved than just her and she had to protect what was most important. She went around her room trying to gather up what she would need to do this; she just wished that she could make sure that she had the courage to do it. She had to and there was not a doubt in her mind, she just had to act fast.

The next morning Harry woke up to an empty room, if the covers for Ron's bed had not been on the floor, he would not have known that anyone had been there in the night but him, after his encounter or lack there of with Ginny he had laid down on his bed in Ron's room and fallen asleep. He realized that he should probly get dressed and go and find Ron, they needed to talk about the **Horucuxes**. 

When he reached the landing two floors down, he stopped and looked at the door, he considered knocking on it to see if maybe she would talk to him now, but figured that he should give her a little more time, so he continued on down the stairs.

"Ron, don't eat all the pancakes before Harry and Ginny get down," Mrs. Weasley told her youngest son.

"Why not, they have chosen to sleep in rather than eat," Ron told is mum with a mouth full of food.

"I'm here, don't eat my pancakes Ron," Harry told his best friend.

"Hey mate, didn't know you were up."

"Just got up, sorry but you can't have all the pancakes but Ginny still is not talking to me so you can probly have hers," Harry told his redheaded friend.

"Oh Harry dear, I am sorry, just give her some time, she'll come around." Harry looked into the eyes of a woman that loved him as if he was her son, and he loved her too. 

"I hope so."

"Good morning everyone," Hermione said as she walked in the back door.

Ron nearly choked on his bite of pancake, "What are you doing here I thought that Harry said that you wouldn't be here until later?"

"Wonderful to see you too Ron," she said a little on the agitated side. "I thought that maybe the three of us needed to get started on some of the work we have."

"That is a good idea," Harry replied. He really wanted to try to talk to Ginny again before they got to in depth in their research today.

"Hermione dear," Mrs. Weasley said as she gave her a hug, "have you eaten yet?"

"No, I thought that you might have something for me."

"Always dear, have a seat. Ron, move your wand off the table so Hermione can sit down," she told her son as she went to the stove to get food for Hermione and herself.

"So where is everyone," Hermione asked. Mrs. Weasley set her food down in front of her as she herself took a seat to eat.

"Oh, well Arthur had to leave early for the ministry and Ginny is still upstairs," she said the last past and looked over at the sad raven haired young man that she expected to be in the family some day. 

Harry put his fork down, "Thanks for breakfast Mrs. Weasley, um … Ron, Hermione, I'll be back, okay." He said this as he was getting out of his chair, as he started to pick up his plate Mrs. Weasley waved at him to leave it as she had her mouth full and could not say it. 

Harry put his plate back down and went upstairs, he had to talk to Ginny, and he knew that he would not be able to concentrate on anything until he did. As he got to the second floor where her room was located, he made himself keep moving, he could not back down from this, they had to talk whether she liked it or not. He lifted his hand and knocked on her door, he just hoped that she would listen and forgive him. When there was no answer, he worried that she was asleep so he knocked again, this time a little louder.

"Ginny, we have to talk, please; you can do your homework later."

There was still no response, he could not hear anything going on in the room, so he cracked the door to see if she was still asleep or just ignoring him. He did not see her, not in her bed or at her desk, as he pushed the door open further and walked in the room, he began to panic. 'Where could she be?' Harry turned and walked out of the room leaving the door open. He had to find her, as he went downstairs he called her name.

"Harry dear what is wrong," Mrs. Weasley asked as he came into the kitchen from the stairs.

"She is not up there, are you sure she did not leave the house, maybe go for a walk," Harry asked her.

"No dear, I have been up since early this morning and have not seen her, are you sure that she is not hiding from you, I told you that she was trying to think of ways to get back at you maybe she thought that if you could not find her it would be the same."

"It would not be the same, but that was not the kind of things that she had been considering," Hermione said from her seat next to Ron.

"Let me just go see," Mrs. Weasley said, she was sure that Ginny would be up there just trying to hide from Harry.

"Hermione what did she tell you," Harry asked his friend.

"Nothing much, she just wanted to take a date to the wedding to make you jealous."

"Nooooo." They heard Mrs. Weasley's cry from upstairs and all three teenagers where on their feet headed upstairs to find out what was wrong.

"Mum, what is it," Ron asked as the three reach the bedroom his mother was in.

"She's … gone."

"What do you mean she's gone," Hermione asked.

Mrs. Weasley looked up at the three and handed the piece of paper in her hand over to them. Harry took the paper and Ron and Hermione read over his shoulder.

**Dear Mum,**

**I am sorry I had to do this, but Harry is right. There are things that are important, and must be protected. I know that whatever Harry, Ron, and Hermione are going to do will end this war. And, as much as I want to be there to help, I can't. There are things in this world that must be preserved for very good reasons. I just hope that when this is over and I can come home (and I will, I promise) that you will be there because I will need you and as mad as I am at him I hope that Harry will be all right. I need him to be all right. Someday you will understand, but for now, know it is best that you know very little. I will tell you this, I am leaving, and I am going somewhere that no one knows me or my family, somewhere that Voldemort and his idiots cannot find me. I may even go somewhere that does not have magic. I will keep a watch on what is going on with the war so I know when I can come home. Thanks to one of Hermione's books I have found a spell to make me untraceable, Hedwig nor Pig nor anyone else will be able to locate me. I am sorry mum and I love everyone very much. Please make sure he is okay.**

**Love, Ginny**

"Wha…I…don't understand," Harry was very confused, yesterday she did not want him to protect her and today she was going to hide so that she was protected. How could she do this to him, to her mum? He looked at Mrs. Weasley as she cried and reached out and took her hand.

"I'll find her, I promise." He could not be the cause of Mrs. Weasley's pain as well.

"No Harry, you can't. She does not want to be found, knowing my daughter she has a good reason for that, she would not do this just because you broke her heart so please do not blame yourself."

"WHY THE BLOODY HELL SHOULD HE NOT?"

"Ron, don't talk like that," Hermione said as she grabbed his arm.

"NO, I WANT TO KNOW WHY HE SHOULD NOT BLAME HIMSELF WHEN IF HE HAD NOT BROKEN HER HEART SHE WOULD BE HERE IN THIS ROOM. IT IS YOUR FAULT HARRY AND I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO HER." Ron was red in the face from yelling at his friend. He stared at Harry for a moment, turned, and left the room.

"Harry, he is just upset, I'll go talk to him," Hermione said as she put her hand on her friends shoulder. "Harry you mustn't blame yourself, Ginny is a smart girl and I know that whatever made her do this was very important to her, like you are." Hermione turned and went to find Ron.

"It doesn't matter if Ron never forgives me because I'll never forgive myself if something happens to her, I love her, and I just wanted to tell her that, everything would be fine if I could have told her that. I should have made her talk to me. If I could have just told her how I felt she would not have done this." The two sat in silence; Mrs. Weasley understood how he felt. It is hard to not blame yourself when you know that you caused someone pain. "I don't know what to do. I want to find her and make sure that she is okay, how can I protect her if I do not know where she is? She succeeded in what she wanted to do, she hurt me, and she broke my heart. I just don't know what to do." Harry buried his face into his hands trying to keep the tears away.

"Molly, what is going on, I tried to floo but no one was in the kitchen, and I heard yelling." Both Harry and Mrs. Weasley looked up into the face of their friend Remus Lupin.

"It's my fault, Ron was yelling at me because Ginny has run away."

"Harry stop I told you that this is not your fault. Remus, would you mind getting Arthur, I think that he needs to be told."

"Of course Molly, are you okay?"

"No but I have not been okay since Ginny's first year at Hogwarts, and I expect that I will not be fine until this is over and I have ALL of my children safe in this house."

"That is one thing that I can help with Mrs. Weasley. I will just have to do it on my own."

"No, Harry. I told you that I would help and no matter what your 'choices' have caused my sister to do; I must help, for the greater good, right?" Ron was in the doorway behind Lupin with Hermione in tow. He was not happy about talking to Harry right now but he also knew that they had to do this for him to see his sister again.

"It is okay Ron; trust me I understand if you hate me for the rest of our lives, I can do this on my own."

"Harry, we have been with each other for the last six years, not matter the fights, we'll get through this like all the others and laugh about in another six years. This has to be done, you cannot do it by yourself no matter what you say, and Ron and I will help. I don't care if neither one of you likes the other right now, we love each other and many other people in this room and not in this room and they are who we need to do this for. Both of you should realize that there will be no reason for Ginny to come back if she does not have her favorite brother or the love of her life. So all I have left to say is, Get Over It." Hermione dropped Ron's hand she had been holding, walked out the room and downstairs.

"She is smarter than you two give her credit for," Mrs. Weasley said as she got up off Ginny's bed. "Come on Remus, you and I must let Ginny's father and brothers know what has happened. I just hope that my daughter comes back alive."

As the adults walked out of the room and down the stairs, Ron looked over at his friend, "She is right, Hermione is smarter than we give her credit for."

"Have you told her how you feel yet," Harry asked Ron.

"No."

"My suggestion, do it now. You may wake up in the morning and her not be here. Then think of how you will feel with her out there in the world alone because she thought that she lost the one person that she loves most in the world. I don't think I would wish this feeling on Draco Malfoy, Snape yes but not Draco."

"She knew."

"What? Who knew?"

"Ginny knew that you loved her mate. I heard her in the kitchen last night before dinner trying to convince mum that even though she is 15 she knows what love is, and it is what you two have. I know that this is not your fault I just can't believe that my little sister is out there in the world with Voldemort still alive and I am not there to keep her safe, which is what I am supposed to do as her older brother."

"No, it is what I am supposed to do, what I tried to do. But I have failed her and you mate, I am sorry."

The two friends stayed in that room not looking at each other and not talking, they just need the comfort of their best friend being near them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three 

Ginny had just transferred to her second train since beginning her travels this morning. She arrived at the train station in the muggle town not far from her home around 5 am. She bought a ticket on the first train out of the town. She had switched trains about three hours after leaving the first train station. She had no idea where she was, but she thought that maybe now was a good time to go to the bathroom and make herself untraceable. She did not want to leave her family but knew that she had too. She had conjured the forms that made her birthday a few years before it really was and knew that if she needed more forms that she could conjure those also. She had to do this for her future. 

No one noticed the redheaded teen as she walked to the back of the train to the bathrooms; she went in and cut herself off from her world, her family and friends. She just hoped that he would forgive her when this was over.

Hours later, Harry and Ron still sat in the room that they both felt made fighting this war more important and gave them the desire to end it soon. Neither boy looked up as Hermione walked in the room.

"Guys, what are you still doing in here? You've missed lunch." When there was no response to her question, she went and sat next to Harry on the bed. "Look, I know that both of you are hurting right now but we have a lot of work to do if you want Ginny to come back here any time soon. I don't think that she did this to hurt you but she did say that she would be back when it was over, so what do you say? Let's find a way to end it so that you can both be happy again."

Harry cleared his throat, "You are right, we need to end this, as soon as possible. Hate to tell you this Ron but I need her." Harry looked up at his redheaded friend who finally met his eyes.

"I know you do mate. I agree we need to get this over and done with so that we can be with the girls we love." Ron moved his eyes over to Hermione as he said the last part. "'Mione, I think we need to talk."

"I'll go down stairs guys, but Ron we have wasted a lot of time today so kind of make it quick."

"Harry, he will take as long as he wants." Hermione told him as she looked back into Ron's eyes.

Harry looked at his two best friends for a moment, turned and walked out the door. He knew that things would be different between those two and he thought that it might help them with the future that they had, he had.

When Harry got down the stairs, he saw Mrs. Weasley sitting at the table with her face buried in her hands; he could tell that she was crying.

"Mrs. Weasley, I am sorry that this has happened. I promise that we will end this so she can come home."

"Oh Harry," she said as she got up and went to him. "As long as you are okay too, Ginny is not the only one who needs you around, do you hear me." She held him in a hug that was a little tighter than normal, but he needed it. "And Harry dear, you should know that her brothers, Arthur and I don't blame you for this, we just want her safe. But my little girl is strong and if she felt that she had to do this for a little while then I am sure that it is for a very good reason."

"I know Mrs. Weasley; I just wish that I could have apologized for everything that happened in June. I feel like that may be why she left."

"Trust me Harry, if it had to do with how things ended with you two she would have just yelled at you. That is how she would handle her brothers and I know that you are not a brother but she would have put you in you place dear, so I fear that there is more going on with this situation than what we know. Now since talking about this does us no good, can I make you something for lunch?" Mrs. Weasley wiped her eyes as she went to the stove to make Harry something to eat.

"Well I think that both Ron and I might could use something to eat but he may be a little while. He is talking to Hermione."

"He is, good I was wondering what it would take to make my little boy see what was in front of him. I guess something good has come from Ginny running away." Mrs. Weasley got busy making the two boys something for lunch.

"Mrs. Weasley, I am going to go for a short walk, I just need some fresh air."

"Okay dear, don't worry I will keep your food warm."

"Thanks," he said as he walked out the back door in to the early afternoon sunlight. He just needed to be by himself for a few minutes before he, Ron, and Hermione started making plans, which they would have to start as soon as lunch was over. As he walked around the yard at the Burrow he tried to figure out what could have caused Ginny to leave without telling him anything, he came up with no obvious reason.

"Harry, come on in. We need to get this started and you still have not eaten mate." Harry looked in the direction of the voice that was calling to him and saw his best friend at the door to the house watching him. He decided that he would have time to wallow in the could have been's later, now he had to talk to his friends.

As Harry walked in the house and he saw Hermione at the stove reheating his lunch. 

"Where is Mrs. Weasley," he asked as he sat down at the table.

"She had to go and see Fred and George, they don't have a floo at their store yet so they don't know about Ginny," Ron told him as he sat down next to Harry.

"How long was I outside," Harry asked him.

"Over an hour mate, we've been kind of worried about you. Listen, I am sorry that I yelled at you this morning I was just worried about my sister. I don't blame you for any of this, Ginny is going to do what she wants and when she wants, probably a side effect of being the youngest in a family of all boys." Ron was watching Harry to see if he was going to react to what he said.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks Hermione," he said as she put his lunch down in front of him. "So what did I miss while I was outside?" The two others in the room shared a glance with each other at this comment.

"Well, I told her how I feel, and found out that she feels the same. So I guess you might want to warn us before you walk into a room we are in by ourselves," Ron said with a smirk.

"Ron! Nothing is going to change Harry, I think we felt that before we go into this we needed to make sure that we both knew what the other felt. SO, there will be no need to give any warnings until after this is over." Hermione was giving Ron a dirty look over Harry's head. 

Ron smirked; he had caught what she had just said even if she did not.

"It's good to know that you two are still planning for the future after this," Harry commented as Hermione blushed. She had not meant to insinuate a future but all three knew it was there, they just hoped they would be apart of it.

"Okay," Harry said as he began to eat. "Are we here alone?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get to the plans. So we know that the Horcruxes are Voldemort, Nagini, the ring, the locket, the cup, and the diary, we need to figure out what the last one could be. Dumbledore was thinking that since there is something that wasSlytherin's and something that was Hufflepuff's that maybe the seventh thing is either Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's. I have been thinking that we might be able to rule out Gryffindor because he was against what Slytherin stood for and since Voldemort loves his Slytherin heritage I don't think that he would go there. I was hoping that my best bookworm might be willing to find out what of Ravenclaw's could be out there that Slytherin could have access to. What do you think so far," Harry asked as he finished his rant.

"I think that I already have an idea about Ravenclaw. You know that Ravenclaw was the fonder who thought that your brains and learning ability is what should decide your future, we have learned that just from the sorting hat at Hogwarts, but what we didn't know is that Rowena was a beautiful woman. She was proud of her looks and where ever she was there where mirrors so that she could look at herself. She had a favorite mirror at her house; that was magical like most around here. When she died the mirror was passed down through generations of Ravenclaw women until about 1930 when the mirror never arrived at the home of Phillip and Madeline … Diggory."

"What, Diggory, are you sure?"

"Yeah Harry, I double checked. Madeline's grandfather was the last decedent with the Ravenclaw name. If the mirror had followed its destiny then it would be with Cedric's mother but she died so I am not sure if it would go to another woman in the family or what, since well, Cedric is gone and had no siblings."

"Well are there any ideas as to where the mirror went missing to?" Harry did not know if this new development was important or if it just matter because it was Cedric.

"Not that I can find, no one knew what could have happened, the only thing that made me think that this even might be important is that Phillip was with a woman shortly before he met Madeline and she felt betrayed when Phillip chose Madeline."

"Who was that," Ron asked.

"A woman by the name of Adalyne Long, who later married Marvolo Ghant, Voldemort's grandfather."

"So you think that maybe…." Harry was not sure how he wanted to finish that comment.

"I think that she stole it and kept it and that it might be possible that Voldemort found it. Now as to where he may have put it, I don't know."

"I have a few ideas as to where I want to look for the ones that remain," Harry told them.

"Well now that we have a better idea what they all are I think that we might need to figure out how many have been destroyed and when the last two, Voldemort and Nagini need to be destroyed," Hermione told them.

"Well we know that the diary was destroyed in second year in the chamber, and you said that Dumbledore destroyed the ring right Harry? What about the locket that you found or I guess didn't find," Ron asked.

"Well," Hermione said. "I have been thinking about that too. The locket reminds me of something, I just can't remember what. I feel like I have seen something like what you described, I just can't remember if it was in a book or if I actually saw it."

"Me too," Ron responded.

Harry, who had not spoken in a few minutes, looked as his friends next to him. "I want to go to my parent's home. I don't know if it will have any answers but I need to see where it all started."

"We understand, and actually I already figured that. So, this morning when Remus was here and you two were upstairs, I asked him if he could tell us where to go. He gave me the location that it was at but he said he does not know if Ron and I will be able to see it since the secret keeper is still alive. I was thinking that we might could go there in the morning, what do you think." Hermione looked at Harry as she asked him the last part.

"Sound great, thanks Hermione," Harry said with the first smile he had worn all day.

"What are friends for?"

The three sat in silence for a few minutes, before they heard a pop outside the door of the house; all three moved their hands to where their wands were stored.

"Afternoon all," George said as he walked through the door.

"George, what are you doing here," Ron asked his brother.

"Well I know that I don't live here anymore but this is my parent's home, I thought that I might see if my mum would make me some dinner when she makes dinner for you lot."

"How come you aren't at the shop," Harry asked him.

"Well if you must know Harry, today is my day off. Fred and Lee are handling the shop today." The three friends exchanged glances as George said this. "Why, where is mum?"

"Well," Hermione started to explain.

"No let me, I get the impression that he is still a little mad at me for breaking up with Gin. George, your mum is at the shop, she went to tell you and Fred something." Harry was slow to say a whole lot because he really did not want to be hexed.

"Well, are you going to tell me today or maybe do an interpretive dance?"

"See, its Ginny, she has run away."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"She did what," George asked not really believing what he was told. The other three in the room did not respond to his question. "This is your fault Harry, you hurt her and she could not be near you, why did you have to come here, I want my little sister safe and now she is out there all by herself."

"George, stop. This is not Harry's fault," Bill told him. He had just walked through the door and no one had noticed him. "Look both of you," he said as he looked between Harry and George. "I talked to Ginny last week and even though you did hurt her she understood that it was not a permanent arrangement. I don't know why she left but it was not because of what was going on with her and Harry. George, I will not allow you to make him feel guilty for what has happened we all know that he has more than enough pressure on his shoulders and you will not give him more."

"It's okay Bill, no matter what anyone says I am going to feel guilty about this, who knows it may even help matters. Now I don't have to worry that she will follow the three of us this year, I just hope that she really is safe." Harry stood up and walked out the door that was behind Bill, mumbling something about going for a walk.

When Harry returned to the house hours later, it was to a full house. Mrs. Weasley had brought Fred and Lee home with her from the shop, and Mr. Weasley was home from work. Bill and George were still there and it sounded like Fleur had come over. As Harry walked in the door there was a loud shriek and Mrs. Weasley was running over to him.

"Oh Harry dear, you had us worried that you had run off too. I just could not bear if two of my children had run off."

"Sorry," Harry told her. "I just needed some time alone."

"It is okay," she told him as she let him go. "I'll make dinner now."

"I am sorry Harry, Bill was right. I should not have blamed you. I just was, am worried about my little sister." George walked up and offered him a hand as his apology.

"You all talk like she is a little girl who doesn't know how to use a wand. She is a very talented girl," Hermione told them. "You guys need to give her a little more credit, all of you." Hermione looked at Harry to let him know that even he needed to give Ginny some credit. "She has lived in a house with all boys and just so you know she has taught me a few things, like that bat boogey hex so if you don't stop blaming Harry, I will have to do what she would do if she were here." Hermione made her final statement and walked into the kitchen to see if Mrs. Weasley needed help.

"Bill, maya be ve shood delaay ze vedding for vhen Gynnee veturns," Fleur asked her fiancé.

"Bill, do you think that is what Ginny would want," Harry asked Bill.

"No Harry, she probably would want us to go ahead. It was going to be just family anyways, well and you Harry but you are like family."

"Thanks Bill but there are some things that I need to take care of so I probably won't be there, I'm sorry," Harry told the man.

Ron looked over at Harry who was looking at the floor, "Yeah Bill, Hermione and I won't be able to make it either."

"No guys you should go," Harry told Ron. 

Ron walked over to him, "Where you go we go Harry,"Ron told him quietly.

"Thanks."

"So, no Ginny, Ron, Harry, or Hermione? Well that is almost half of the guest list. Maybe we should postpone until after the war, then we could have a big bash. I was just hoping that I could marry Fleur before, you know in case something happens." Bill told the room as he walked over to his fiancé.

"I sank sat is for zee best, love," Fleur told Bill as she took his hand.

"I guess that I had better go tell mum then," Bill said. He and Fleur walked out of the room to talk to Mrs. Weasley.

The twins, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the only ones left in the room. The twins had sat down on the couch, and were deep in conversation about new defensive products they could create.

"I did not mean for that to happen, I guess that we will have to make sure to involve as few people as possible in this and make sure that this ends soon, right," Harry said.

"Um actually Harry, Hermione and I were talking while you were out on your um walk. Well we think that we need to get started on the things that we know for sure very soon, as in tomorrow. If we want to get this over with we might as well start now, right mate," Ron added.

"You are right, I guess we need to stay up a little late tonight," Harry said, as he looked Ron standing in front of him.

Mrs. Weasley called everyone to the kitchen for dinner. Harry couldn't help but think about what a long day it was, it was hard to believe that Ginny only went missing that morning. As the Weasley's and their guests sat down for dinner thinking of their missing loved one, someone elsewhere sat down to eat thinking of them too.

After dinner, Harry, Ron and Hermione had to wait in the living room until everyone either left or went to bed before they could get started on their plans.

"So," Harry started after Mr. Weasley went to bed after saying goodnight to the three. "Where do you think that we should start?"

"Well, I was thinking that since you want to go to Godric's Hollow we should start there. Then maybe we can get some ideas as to what happened to the locket," Hermione told them.

"R.A.B.," Ron hollered.

"SSHHH, Ron you'll wake everyone up," Hermione said.

"Sorry," he said, looking to the stairs making sure no one was coming down them. "Harry, what if…, well, didn't Sirius have a brother?"

"Yeah, I think that his name was Regulus," he said slowly. "You don't think that he could be R.A.B., do you?"

"Anything is possible Harry. Wait," Hermione exclaimed. "Do you remember the summer before fifth year, when Mrs. Weasley had us clean out the rooms at Headquarters? When we were in the drawing room, do you two remember any of the stuff that we found?"

"You're right Hermione; I think that I remember seeing a locket. What do you think happened to it," Harry asked.

"If I had to guess, Kreacher. He probably hid it. After Godric's Hollow, I think that we need to go to Grimwald Place. We need to see if it is there and if it is, we need to figure out if the locket is still a Horcrux. I have a feeling that it is," Hermione told them.

"How would we destroy it," Ron questioned.

"We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, I think that we need to get some sleep, this is going to be a long summer and I think that we need to get started tomorrow. I say we leave around 10 am, any objections?" Ron and Hermione shook their heads. "Okay then we need to get some sleep and to eat a good breakfast in the morning, which won't be a problem with Mrs. Weasley around," Harry told them with determination.

Neither of the three really thought that they would be getting any sleep but they each figured that they would rest a little. 

Harry was worried about a certain redhead that he loved. He hoped that whatever caused her to leave, would be okay when this war was over, because he needed her in his life.


	5. Chapter 5

When Harry got downstairs to the kitchen the next morning, Hermione and Ron were already there. Mrs. Weasley was at the stove making what appeared to be pancakes. As he looked at his best friends sitting at the table holding hands, he was glad that Ron had finally spoken about his feelings for Hermione, he just hoped that it wasn't all for nothing, he hoped that they would have a future after this war. As he thought about his friends, they both looked up and saw him.

"Morning Harry," Hermione said with not a lot of enthusiasm.

"Morning," Harry made eye contact with Hermione and then looked at Mrs. Weasley. Hermione shook her head. Harry was dreading having to tell Mrs. Weasley that they were going to leave in a few hours.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry told the woman as she put down a plate of pancakes at the place he normally sat at in the mornings.

"Harry dear, I have been meaning to talk to you and Hermione about that. You two should really call me Molly or Mum, and the same goes for Arthur. You two may not be in my family by blood, but you may as well be." Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance as the woman turned back to the stove.

"Um, Mrs. Weasley, Molly, we need to talk to you." Harry told the woman that he had come to love. Molly sat down next to Harry and across from Ron and Hermione.

"What is it, are you lot going to run away too," she asked with a chuckle. When she saw the look that the three exchanged, she got up and went back to the stove. "Well I really do not have time to chat today dears, maybe we can talk tomorrow." She knew what they were going to say and did not want to hear it, not now.

"Mum, it has to be today," Ron told his mother. "Actually, it has to be now."

She turned around and looked at the three teenagers who did not know what it meant to be teenagers because they had so much responsibility. What she wouldn't give to keep them here all summer so that they did not have to deal with the responsibility that had been placed upon them.

"Okay," she said tentatively. "When are you leaving?"

"How did you know?"

"Harry, I know that you three have something to do, and I know that if you think that it will bring Ginny back faster then you will speed up when you do it. I realize that, I just wish that I could hide all of you away in the attic with the ghoul until this war was over."

"We wish you could too believe me," Harry said under his breath.

"So," she said, "when are you leaving?"

Harry looked at his watch, "In two hours."

"Oh no," she replied. "I hope I have enough time to pack you lot a food bag."

"Molly, we may be back in couple of days, we have a few things that we need to take care of before we can really get started on this 'expedition.'" Harry wasn't sure what to call the little trip that they were going on.

"Oh Harry, are you lot coming back here for your birthday," Molly asked.

"I don't feel much like celebrating. I know what if when all this is over we have a really big party and then we can celebrate all of the birthdays that will be missed and the fact that the war will be over."

"Sounds like a perfect plan Harry," she said. She was disappointed that he did not want to celebrate his birthday but she understood. "Okay you three eat up I am going to make you a bag full of food for the trip."

"Thanks Molly," Hermione told her. All three felt bad for leaving Molly and Arthur at the house by themselves, but knew that they would probably be so busy with Order stuff that they would not even notice the empty house.

The three hung out in the kitchen after finishing breakfast, they wanted to relish the family warmth that the kitchen at the Burrow always held. It was going to be a while before they felt this again.

As ten o'clock got closer, Molly got more and more nervous. She kept going over to the table and giving one of the three a hug. She was afraid that they would forget what a hug felt like, the blanket of warmth and security that it passed on from one person to the next.

She had already made them four sandwiches apiece and was working on packing them and some butterbeers into a bag for them. She had been trying to fight tears all morning.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said as he came up behind her. "I am sorry that we have to leave," he told her. She stood there a moment before turning around and hugging him with tears streaming down her face.

"You three protect each other. I need you all back here safe." She let go of Harry as Ron and Hermione walked over to them.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to Ron and Hermione."

"And we won't let anything happen to Harry, mum." Ron hugged his mother as Hermione put her hand on Molly's shoulder while she too fought tears.

"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said. "I love your son. I thought that you should know that."

"Which one dear, I have more than one you know," she said with a smile on her face. "I actually have seven in fact and two daughters. For some reason the youngest ones all feel like they need to leave me."

"Then it's a good thing that the older ones feel that they need to be near you isn't it," Charlie said from the door. "What is going on in here? I go back to work for a few weeks then I get a letter saying that my little sister has run away and my little brother and his friends are leaving my mum alone in her time of need. Has everyone lost it?"

"Charlie, what are you doing home," Molly asked her son as she pulled him into a hug.

"Well, someone wrote to me and asked me to come take care of my mum because she was going to be alone for a while," he told her while he looked at Harry.

All four of the people in the room looked at Harry.

"What, I wanted to my sure that my surrogate mum was safe while we were gone. Ron and Hermione won't stay and Ginny left because of me so I thought that I could at least make sure that she was guarded by someone with fighting experience."

"Thank you Harry, how did you know that I would need company with all of you gone?"

"I knew how much you miss us when we are safe at Hogwarts so I thought that it might be better to have someone here since none of us will be safe this time. I love you Mrs. Weasley, mum."

"Oh Harry," she said with a new round of tears as she pulled him back into a hug.

"Mum, I hate to be the one to be the one to cut the goodbyes short but Harry, Hermione and I need to get going. I love you," Ron said as he gave his mum a hug. Molly gave him a hug and then pulled Hermione to her.

"I love you sweetheart," Molly told Hermione as both women cried.

"I love you too," Hermione said. She let go of Molly and ran out the door, Ron followed behind her.

"I love you too Harry, remember that when you lot are doing this," she told him looking into his eyes before she pulled him into another hug.

"I love you," he whispered to her. As he let her go and turned to pick up his and Hermione's bags, he looked back at the only woman he had known to be a mother to him and hoped with everything that he had, that he would see her again. As he walked out the door, Charlie followed him.

"Thanks for coming Charlie. I knew that Bill had too much going on what with trying to get married in a month. Please make sure that they go through with that. And Charlie, keep her safe, she is the only mother that I have ever known, or remember knowing."

"Don't worry Harry; I know how much she means to you. But do me a favor," Charlie said as he looked at Harry. "Make sure that all three of you come home, I don't think that she could handle it if she lost one of you."

"I will do my best Charlie." Harry turned to walk away but had a second thought. "Charlie, if you hear from Ginny will you send Hedwig to me? Please."

"Yeah, but Harry, don't count on it. My little sister is very stubborn when she thinks that she needs to be."

"Trust me, I know," Harry said as he walked over to Ron and Hermione who were standing under a tree a little ways away from the house holding one another.

"Come on guys, we need to get out of here," Harry said as he walked up to them.

The three turned on the spot aparating to the location that Remus had given them for the home Harry's parents had lived in.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Harry felt the ground under his feet come and go again along with the sensation of aparating again. As they had landed Hermione saw tree covering that they needed to protect themselves under and apparated all three of them over there.

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said as he looked back toward the area they came from. There it was his parent's home. It looked fine; you could not tell anything had ever happened there. Maybe this wasn't his parent's home.

"Harry do you see anything?" Hermione was standing next to him trying to compose her self after saying goodbye to Molly.

"You two can't see it. I guess that means we are here." The three exchanged a glance and Harry looked back at the house. "I guess that I need to do this by myself then."

"Unfortunately, you will have to do this by yourself. But we will be out here and if you need us just yell, we will find a way to help you," Hermione told him as she hugged him.

Harry needed a day that was not full of hugs and sadness, but he figured that was not going to be today. He turned and nodded at Ron, then turned back to the house, put his and Hermione's bags down and walked towards it. He did not know what he was going to find, as he got closer to the front door, he noticed the lilies that were planted in the front of the house. Harry paused a moment and looked back in the direction of his friends, hoping that he could find some courage in their presence as he looked back at the house and opened the door.

He shut the door behind him and looked around, he could see where some lamps and pictures had been shattered, probably in the fight between his father and Voldemort. Across the room on the wall next to the stairs, Harry saw what looked like scorch marks. He walked over and touched the marks, 'This is where it happened. This is where my father died to protect me and my mum.' Harry had to keep going, he could not morn his father now, he thought as he wiped at a stray tear that had leaked.

He turned away from the spot and went into the kitchen he could see on the other side of the stairs. It looked as if someone had just finished cooking and had not done the dishes yet. There wasn't even any dust anywhere. Harry would have to ask Hermione but he figured that it was a charm, especially considering that everyone told him how good his mother was with charms. He stood there for moment thinking about what it would have been like to grow up here and eat in this kitchen. Voldemort had taken so much from him; Harry was going to make him pay. Voldemort had to pay for his mum, dad, Sirius, Dumbledore and all the others that were taken from Harry. Harry angrily turned away from the kitchen and stormed up the stairs. He had to get out of here as soon as possible; he would finish upstairs and get out of here.

At the top of the stairs Harry looked around the small hallway, there were two doors on the right and three on the left and a door that was a little more narrow than the others straight on at the end of the hall. One of the doors on his right had an H that was painted maroon; he figured that was his room. As Harry turned to go to his room he heard a noise in the room in the center on the left and decided to check it out. With his wand out in front of him he approached the door. He put his hand on the knob and slowly turned it and pushed the door open. He jumped as a rat shot out of the room and down the hall into a hole in the wall.

'Well at least it did not have a silver foot,' he thought as he looked into the room and saw that it was a child's bathroom. It had toys sitting on the edge of the tub for him to play with and what he assume was a training toilet that his parents must have been trying to train him on before it all changed.

Harry turned around shutting the door behind him and going to the room with the H on the door. When he opened the door he felt the energy in the room hit him in the face along with the gush of wind from the hole behind the crib. Remarkably the crib was still in tact it just had a scorch mark that he could probably fix. Standing in the door way he could hear a woman screaming and was taken back to that night almost 16 years ago. He tried to stop reliving it when he heard his name yelled from outside of the memory and begin to come back to the present.

"HARRRRYYY! HELP!" He could hear Hermione yelling for him from outside and took off out the hall, down the stairs and out the door.

"What is it, what happened," he asked as they ran toward him.

"Death Eaters," Hermione said as she reached him. "We have to get out of here, Grimuald Place, NOW!"

On the spot, all three friends apparated to safety, how did the Death Eaters know that they were here?

All three landed on the street in front of Grimuald Place to see number 12 come into view as they ran in the door.

"Thank goodness we made it," Ron said over the voice of Mrs. Black. Harry and Ron started trying to pull her drapes back over her frame.

Harry was not really thrilled to be there; after all it was the last place that he saw Sirius alive before that night in the Department of Mysteries. The three friends walked down the stairs to where the kitchen was to sit and talk.

"Okay Harry, tell us what happened," Hermione said as she pulled some butterbeers out of their bag Molly had packed just an hour ago.

"Well, you could see where my dad," he said as he trailed off. "It looked like they still could have lived there, there was no dust it just looked like they had walked out of the room just before I got there. When I went upstairs I heard something, I went to investigate, but it was just a rat. When I went into my room it was like it happened all over again, if you hadn't yelled for me I would probably still be in there reliving it now."

"Um, Harry. Do you think that the rat, well. Could it have been Wormtail," Ron asked slowly.

"No, I made sure he did not have a silver paw. But now that I know it is there, I want to be able to go back and I think that we need to find a way for you two to go in there too."

"Well Harry, I thought about that while I was at home and have been looking up ways to break the Fidelous charm that is on the house. I have found an incantation that the owner of the house can say that will remove the charm, and Harry if you want, I think I have figured out how to do the Fidelous charm so we can put it back on there for you."

"Really, I would love to have access to my house but how do we know who the owner is. Surely after all these years it is not mine, someone has to have bought the property, right," Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry. I do think that I know someone who could tell us," she paused looking at Harry to make sure that he wanted her to continue. "I think that Remus can help us. Even if he doesn't know, he probably knows where you parents will should be and that would definitely tell us."

"Okay, I'll contact him, why don't you two go unpack. You can have any room you want and we can each have our own room if you want," Harry told them as he stood up and walked to the fireplace. He was going to have to floo Remus; he just hoped that he would be home.

"Remus Lupin," Harry said with his head in the flames.

"Harry, what is going on? Charlie flooed earlier and told me you lot had left," Remus said as he kneeled in front of the fire.

"We have Remus; we were wondering if you could come over, we need some help with something."

"Of course Harry, where are you at?"

"Grimuald Place," Harry said as he backed out the fire.

Harry sat at the table as Remus came thou the fireplace.

"What can I do for you," he asked as he sat down at the table across from him.

"Hopefully, you can answer some questions that we, well I have." Harry looked up at Remus and he nodded for him to continue. "Well we just got back from Godric Hollow. I need to know if my mum and dad had a will."

"Of course they did. I think that they kept it in their vault at Gringott's. Why do you ask?"

"Well Hermione has found an incantation or something to reverse the Fidelous charm but only the owner of the location can say it and it work."

"Well Harry I don't need to see your mum and dad's will to know who that is, it's you. It was always going to be you. They just did not want you to have it until you were old enough, I think that they have it set up for the will to find you on your 17th birthday, and that is only in a couple of weeks."

"I know, do you think that it is possible for me to find it and read it before then?"

"I don't know, all you can do is try."

"Hey Remus, how long have you been here," Ron asked as he and Hermione walked into the room and sat with Harry and Remus at the table.

"Not long. Harry and I have been talking." Remus turned back to Harry, "I think that you need to get to the vault and look to see if it is there."

"Yeah Harry, I think that is a really good idea," Hermione said. "Have you asked him for help with that thing?"

"No, I think the fewer involved the better."

"Harry, I think Hermione is right, we need to include him on this one, if only because he is your mum and dad's last remaining friend. He knows more about them then we do, I'm sorry. Would you not tell your parents if they were here," Ron told Harry. Remus sat there watching the three friends inter act, they were more like Lily, James, and Sirius than they realized. He had to make sure their fate was different.

"I would tell them, I know," Harry conceded. "I have to tell him. Look Remus," he said as he turned to the adult. "I know that this goes without saying, but…"

"I know, keep this to myself right, don't worry Harry, you are like my own child, I will not betray you, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you survive this."

"I know, I trust you. Do you know what a Horcrux is?"


	7. Chapter 7

Remus paled as Harry told him about the mission that Dumbledore gave him.

"Well, maybe we should go to Gringott's before we do anything else," Ron stated when Harry had told Remus everything.

"Yeah, probably but I was wondering if you might let me look for the locket Harry," Hermione asked.

"Um, yeah, you and Ron can stay here and look for the locket, but don't do anything with it if you find it, I can't have you lot getting hurt from this thing. Remus, you and I can go to Gringott's, sound good to everyone?"

"Works for me," Ron said looking at a nodding Hermione.

"I'll do whatever you ask of me, you know that," Remus told the three of them.

"Okay then, we will return shortly," Harry told Ron and Hermione as he stood up and looked expectantly at Remus. Remus stood and led the way out of the kitchen with Harry following him as they made their way outside.

As they walked out the door Remus said, "Harry you may want to wear your cloak."

"Yeah, I have it, I haven't gone anywhere without it since Professor Dumbledore told me not to last year. Why don't we apparate to the Leaky Caldron and walk the rest of the way."

"I am following you," Remus told him. Harry looked at the man he admired and apparted to the Leaky Caldron with Remus behind him.

The two landed at the front door of the bar and walked in and through to Diagon Alley. Both were completely aware of their surroundings, Harry was afraid that he did not need to be out in public with everything that had happened with Dumbledore, many people in the magical world believed that The Great Harry Potter was the only one that could save them from Voldemort now. What these people did not know, is that even if Dumbledore was still alive, Harry would still have to be the one to save them from Voldemort.

Remus wanted to make sure that if anything happened he could protect Harry. Remus may not have know what the prophecy said or even what the future held, but Harry was all he had left in the world, except for a certain witch that was becoming a permanent fixture in his life. He had to get Harry thru this.

As the two walked thru the streets, people stopped their shopping to watch Harry.

"Remus, come here," Harry said as he walked into the Weasley's store.

"What is it?"

"I want to put my cloak on before we draw too much attention." Harry acknowledged the twins who were checking out some customers at the counter. Neither twin made any moves to go to Harry, which he was grateful for. Harry put the cloak over him and nudged Remus to let him know they could leave.

The two made it the rest of the way to the bank without any incident. Harry took the cloak off as they went in the doors and up to the goblin at the welcome desk.

"I need to get into my vault," Harry said as he reached into his pocket. "Here is my key."

"Yes sir," the goblin said as he took the key. "Grimins here will take you to your vault."

"This way sir," another goblin said as he took Harry's key from the other goblin. Grimins lead both Remus and Harry to his mother and father's vault. As the goblin opened the vault Harry asked for a little privacy.

"Okay, we need to make this quick," Harry told Remus as the goblin walked a little ways down the hall.

"Right, it should not be hard to find some papers in a vault that is full of coins," Remus responded. The two walked in a looked around, Remus walked to the far wall and began rifling thru what appeared to be a make shift filling cabinet.

"Look, I found it. I didn't think it would be hard." Remus was pulling out some paper work and putting it in his inside cloak pocket as Harry came over to him and looked over his shoulder. Harry saw something that was still in the cabinet that caught his eye.

"What is that," he asked as he reached into the cabinet and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of his mother, she had a bundle of blankets in her arms.

"That is your first picture Harry, I remember that day. Your father could not keep from pacing in the waiting room, Lily let him in the delivery room for about 10 minutes before she kicked him out. He was driving her and everyone else there crazy with worry about whether or not you would be healthy, and when he saw you he decided that you would have to be a professional quidditich player." He smirked at the memory, "None of us knew why he decided that you were going to play Quidditch, but no one could change his mind. He was the one that took that picture of you and your mum."

Harry could not believe that he was looking at his first day with his parents. Harry put the picture inside his cloak for safekeeping; he was going to at least keep the picture even if he did not get to keep his parents.

Before leaving, Harry got some extra money, just in case they would need it over the next few months and could not get over here. Harry, Remus, and Grimins went back thru the tunnels to the main floor of Gringott's so Harry and Remus could leave; Harry thought that they needed to get out of Diagon Alley before anything happened because he was there.

As he and Remus walked out the doors of the bank they stopped in their tracks. Remus acted first, he turned to Harry and said, "Put the cloak on and get out of here now. I will come back there when I can but you need to get out of here now." Harry did as he was told and put the cloak on and appartated to Grimuald Place.

The door slammed behind Harry as he ran thru it and to the kitchen.

"Ron, Hermione, where are you?"

"We're in here," Hermione replied as she opened the door to the kitchen. "What is wrong? Where is Remus?"

Harry pushed past her and into the kitchen. "There were Death Eaters in Diagon Alley when we got out of the bank. Remus told me to leave and that he would show up here when he could." Harry stood in the kitchen and looked between his two best friends. "What do we do?"

"Did you get the will," Hermione asked.

"Well yeah, but Remus put it in the pocket of his cloak."

"What? Why did you do that, now what do we do if something happens to Remus? We need that will," Hermione told him.

"I know Hermione, but what can I do about it now? We just have to hope that nothing happens to him," Harry said as he sat down at the table.

"I would kind of hope that you would have that hope even if I didn't have your parents will," Remus said from the doorway.

"Remus, what are you doing here so soon, Harry said you were fighting death eaters," Ron asked.

"I was but once the Order and Aurors arrived I knew that I was needed here more."

"Remus, you know that we hoped for your return even if you did not have the will, right? We just need the will to end the war."

"Don't worry Harry, I completely understand and would probably feel the same way if the roles were reversed," Remus assured the teen. "I don't envy you, any of you, but that does not mean that I don't want to do everything that I can to help. So why don't we read that will."

The four gathered up at the table as Remus read the will.

_We, James Potter and Lily Evans Potter, of sound bodies and minds, leave our last will and testament._

_To our friend Sirius, we leave our beloved son, we ask that you watch over him in his years ahead. You shall be his guardian until he comes of age, allowing you the access to the JLPotter vault for funds to raise him._

_To our mentor, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian____Dumbledore, we leave James' invisibility cloak, we ask that you keep it safe until the time comes for our son, Harry to require its use._

_Finally to our beloved son Harry, we leave to you the house in Godric's Hollow, the house in Otter St. Catepole, the entirety of the JLPotter vault, and the entirety of the Grifindor/Leeds/Potter vault. We also leave you all of our worldly possessions that are contained in the two homes._

_ This we, James Potter and Lily Evans Potter do testify on this, the 21__st__ day of the March, 1981. _

"Um, Harry are you related to Godric Grifindor," Ron asked.

Harry looked at Remus, "Am I?"

"Yes Harry, you are. We think that may be the reason that Voldemort chose you as a child, but Harry there is an envelope in the file with your parents will," Remus said slowly.

"What's in it," Harry asked.

"I don't know it is sealed, but it is Lily's handwriting."

"You read it Remus, I don't think that I can," Harry told his friend.

"Okay," Remus said as he opened the envelope.

**My Dearest Harry,**

** If you are reading this then that means, something has happened to your father and me. My guess is that whatever it was that happened to us, happened while you were very young, which means that you missed out on many of the things that your father and I had planned for you. If things go as we are thinking that they will go, hoping that they will go, I will have been able to protect you. It is also likely that you had to live at some point with your Aunt Petunia. You should know that once upon a time, your Aunt was a good woman who loved me and even liked your father, but then she met Vernon. I am not sure why she changed but it was like she changed over night, we had cooties or something, childish really. I do hope that she at least treated you well. I hope that you have or are going to attend Hogwarts. Listen to Professor Dumbledore; he is a very wise man who will teach you a lot. I am hoping that even though you will grow up without us, you know that we love you. Maybe you will even have someone that mothers you. I sit here and watch you sleep in your bassinet and hope that you know love, the love of friends and someday, the love of a woman. That is a very special kind of love that you should never take for granted. Your father and I have been searching, basically since you were born to find a solution to this prophecy that Trelawney made, I fear that there is no solution. I wish I could be there to give you words of advise as you prepare for your battle with Voldemort, but I will tell you this, killing Voldemort will be a great achievement so I don't want you to worry that you have done something bad by fulfilling this prophecy. It is a great honor to be your mother. Keep your head on your shoulders, your feet on the ground, and know that wherever you are I will always watch over you and love you.**

**Your Loving Mother,**

**Lily Potter**

**"**Wow Harry," Ron said.

Harry had laid his head on the table at some point during Remus reading the letter. "How did she know?"

"She was your mother Harry, she knew how much she loved you the day she found out she was pregnant," Remus said. "I know that this has been a lot in a short time but Harry, there is another letter in this envelope."

"I need a few minutes," Harry said as he got up from the table and went upstairs to the bathroom. He needed to think and he did not want to be around other people. He needed to be able to shed the tears that had wanted to fall since saying goodbye to Molly this morning. Harry did not know how long he sat on the floor in the bathroom before he finally felt ready to face his friends and the other letter.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

As Harry walked back into the kitchen, he smelled the aromas coming from the pot on the stove.

"Harry," Hermione said as she looked up at her best friend. "I am glad you are back. Remus made a stew for dinner since we kind of missed lunch."

"Thanks Remus."

"Not a problem Harry, how are you doing?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. So much has already happened, I kind of feel like I am drowning, but I have felt that way since I found out Gin was gone so I am not sure what the reason is for my feelings. I am ready for the other letter though."

"Okay then, the stew has a few more minutes so we can read it now," Remus said as he walked over to the table and took the letter out of the envelope. He cleared his throat and began.

**To my talented son,**

**So, your mother and I thought that you might could use a connection with us if something is going to happen, which if you are reading this then something has happened to us. There are a few things about life that I want to be able to pass on to you before my fate is sealed. First, know that I love you, I don't think that I understood what love was until I met your mother and even then it took a couple of years before I completely understood. Make sure that you find a woman to love (I have found redheads to be a marvelous creation by GOD). And if there is one thing that I can tell you is most important (after the woman you love) it is friends. I can't tell you where I would be without Sirius, Remus, and Peter. I hope that they have taken care of you, but if they haven't I will take care of them on the other side. Second, make sure you have friends that you love and I do mean love, it is very important for the path that is ahead of you. Your mother and I wish that we could be there to make sure that everything turns out right for you in the end, but there are other cards at play. I hope that you have had a good life and you might have been blessed with my gift for Quidditch so that you might enjoy some games in your free time or maybe even go pro. Don't let this thing with Voldemort run your life, have fun, laugh, love, because there is no joy in life if you lack any of these abilities. Also, your mother is worried that no one will be around to show you how a mother and father love their child. So, I hope that these letters we have decided to write can show you enough that you can pass it on to your children, and if I have any say up there, you will have many children with a beautiful redhead and grow to be very old, as your mother and I should have done. We will just be happy if you have the future that we have envisioned for ourselves.**

**Your father always,**

**James (Prongs) Potter**

**P.S. – Make sure someone tells you about the Prongs thing.**

**P.S.S. – I heard at a New Years party that there is a family of redheads near the house in Otter that are expecting their first daughter sometime around your first birthday, so maybe you should look them up.**

"If your father could only see things now, he would say something to the effect of 'Told you so.' He would be so proud that you found a redhead to love."

"Yeah, if only we would have that future he talked about."

"You will Harry, I promise that I will make sure we find my sister so that you can have the future that you deserve."

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione who were holding hands as Hermione looked like she might cry again today.

"Alright, we need to change the subject because I don't think that I can see you cry again Hermione," Harry said as he got up from the table. "I'll go get the chess game." Harry said as he walked out of the room.

"How do you think he is taking this Remus?"

"Hermione, I think that he is taking this as well as can be expected."

"What can we do to help him," Ron asked.

"I think that right now you need to play chess with him. You are just going to have to take this as it comes. I know what you lot are doing and Harry will need you to be there for him, no matter what happens along the way," Remus told Ron and Hermione.

"Okay Ron, lets get started," Harry said as he brought the playing board to the table.

"So Remus, what can you tell us," Harry said.

"About what Harry," Remus asked.

"Anything, it does not matter."

"Well, before you flooed me I was talking to Charlie, it is a good thing that you had him come in town. He had to give your mum a dreamless sleep potion after you three left her this morning."

"What," Harry said.

"Don't worry Harry. They have taken care of her; she will be fine once all four of you return. She just needed to deal with it first."

"Remus, what do you mean 'They have taken care of her,'" Hermione asked as she took Ron's hand in hers.

"Oh, well just that, after she wakes from the dreamless potion she will be much calmer. She knew that the three of you were going to have to do something like this so it is just a matter of her finding a way to deal with it. But don't worry she will be fine."

"Remus," Harry said. "She can not know that we are here. I don't want to cause this problem again. We just won't return until we have taken care of everything." He looked at his friends across from him. "Sorry Ron, but I think that is best."

"No, I understand Harry. I want mum to be okay too." Ron looked at Hermione for encouragement before continuing. "Harry, I know that what has happened today is a lot, but mate, we have to push on."

"I know I just need and hour that does not focus on all the bad in my life," Harry said, as he looked into his friends eyes.

The four sat in the kitchen of Grimwald Place eating and just hanging out together for a while. After Ron beat Harry for the third time he pushed back from the table and spoke up.

"Okay, so this is what I think that we need to do, right now. We need to take the current Fidulous charm off my parents house and put a new one on there. Remus, what about the charm on this house, do we need to do the same thing for here?"

"I am not completely sure since the secret keeper is not alive any more but since Snape can still get in I think that it would be a good idea." Remus told Harry as he stood up next to Harry.

"Okay, then I think that you should be the secret keeper for mum and dad's and maybe we can get someone like Charlie or Bill to be the secret keeper for this place," Harry said as he looked around to see the response from the others.

"Actually, Harry. I think that who ever we make into secret keepers it should only be one of the four of us, the fewer people that know the smaller the chance of betrayal is," Hermione said.

"And as flattered as I am that you would want me to be the secret keeper, I think that you should keep it between the three of you, that way you know the only people that have the information are 100 percent trustworthy. If you need me to, I know how to do the charm so I can help there."

"Maybe you two are right," Harry told them. "Well, if we do it like that then," he said as he looked at Hermione and Ron. "One of you should do here and one should do Godric's Hollow, and the only person we will tell about Grimwald Place is Remus. Maybe you would agree to be like a source for us, you know, be our advice on some things, we just may not be able to tell you a whole lot about what we are doing." Harry looked at Remus for the man's response.

"I would love to help Harry, in anyway that you might need me," Remus said as he put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Thanks," Harry said.

"Well Harry if we do it like that then I think that I need to be the secret keeper for Grimwald Place and Ron for Godric's Hollow since I can perform the charm also. That way Remus doesn't even have to be there to perform the charm in the Hollow."

"Sounds like a good idea Hermione," Remus said. "So do you lot want to do the charm now or wait until later?"

"Now is as good a time as any," Harry said as he got out of his chair. "What do we do first?"

"Well first, we need to go outside so that we can reverse the current charm," Remus said as he walked to the door with the other three just behind him.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After the four went outside and performed both the charm to take the Fideous charm off and the one to make Hermione the new secret keeper, they made sure that all four of them could see the house again.

"Okay, so one down and one to go," Ron said as they began to head back into the house.

Remus stayed at Grimwald Place for another hour before heading off. As Harry and his friends sat in the kitchen sipping on butterbeers and talking about the next day, Harry remembered something.

"Oh, Hermione, what did you guys find while Remus and I were at Diagon Alley?"

Hermione jumped up and ran out of the room before responding to Harry.

"What was that about," he asked Ron. Ron shrugged his shoulders not knowing why Hermione reacted as she did.

As Hermione walked back into the room, she had a smile on her face and stopped just short of Harry and the table. As she looked at Harry and he back at her, he tried to figure out what was causing her behavior. Hermione suddenly pulled her hand from behind her back. Hanging from her finger was the locket. Harry jumped out of his chair and took the locket from her.

"You found it!" Harry exclaimed as he turned the locket over in his hand. Harry looked up and into Hermione's eyes and pulled her into a hug. "I can't believe that you did it." As he put Hermione back on her feet before he spoke again. "Have you found a way to test if the Horcrux has been destroyed?"

"Not yet, but I think that I know which book to look in, its just," Hermione paused before going on. "Harry, its just that the book I need is at Hogwarts. I think that we need to see if McGonagall will let us into the library before the students get there."

"Okay, I figured that we might need to go there at some point. Before we go, I would like to make sure that we have as much done as we can. We need to change the charm on Godric's Hollow and then figure out where we might be able to look for the cup or the mirror or if its not the mirror what else it could be. I just want to make sure that we have everything that we need taken care of and settled before we have to go back there."

Hermione walked up to Harry and put her hand on his shoulder, "Harry, Ron and I understand that going back to Hogwarts will be difficult but, it is something that we will have to do not matter how long we wait."

"I know Hermione. I just want a little more time."

"Okay," Ron said. "I think we should go to bed, we have a lot to do tomorrow." Ron was getting uncomfortable with the moment.

When the three got upstairs, Ron and Hermione showed Harry where they had picked for them to sleep. Hermione had thought Harry might like them to sleep in the same room, since they had a lot they would need to talk about. Hermione had conjured a third bed in the same room that Harry and Ron had shared when they last stayed there. As the three settled in for the night, Harry was very glad that he had his two best friends near him. But he couldn't help but think about Ginny and where she was and if she was safe.

The next morning Hermione and Ron found Harry in the kitchen with a cup of tea in front of him and his head in his hands.

"Harry," Hermione said from the door.

"Hum?"

"Are you okay?"

Harry looked up at Ron and Hermione before speaking. "Is Gin back?" Hermione gave him a sympathetic look and shook her head. "Then no."

"Come on mate," Ron said as he sat next to Harry at the table. "My sister would not want you to be like this."

"Ron, I know but that does not take away this feeling of failure." The three sat quietly before anyone spoke again.

"Then Harry," Hermione said softly. "Let's get busy."

Harry got up and left the room with out a comment.

"So does that mean we are doing something," Ron asked Hermione.

"I'M LEAVING IN 30 MINUTES WITH OR WITHOUT YOU TWO," Harry yelled from the hall.

"I would say yes," Hermione replied as they got up from the table and followed Harry upstairs to get dressed.

An hour later, found the three friends standing in the tree line near the Potter house in Godric's Hollow.

"Okay Ron, are you ready?"

"Yeah 'Mione, just do it."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at Hermione and mouthed "'Mione?" Hermione shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes.

She raised her wand and Harry turned her a little to the left so she was pointed at the house.

"Subsisto Salvus."

"Whoa! That was cool."

"Ron, that is the second time you have seen that in 24 hours, could you react differently?"

Harry rolled his eyes at the two and said, "Should we not get this job finished before someone happens upon us?"

"Your right Harry, Ron shut up and let me work."

Hermione looked at the house and moved next to Ron before she closed her eyes in concentration.

"Toto hic salvus."

"Well," Harry said. "I think that Ron needs to tell us my secret so that we can go in before we have more visitors."

"Okay," Ron said as he leaned over to Harry and whispered in his ear, "The Potter house is at 26 Godric's Hollow Way."

"Thanks mate, now tell Hermione and meet me in the house," Harry said as he turned to the house that had just reappeared and started towards it.

When he got to the door, he paused only long enough to make sure that Ron and Hermione were following him through the yard. As he opened the door he saw that nothing had changed since yesterday. He stood in the doorway just looking in at the living room where his father was killed and knew that he was standing where Voldemort was when he delivered the curse that killed his father. He was not sure if he knew that because of where the scorch were at or if there was some other reason as to why he felt that he just knew, Harry moved farther into the room just as Hermione and Ron came through the door.

"Oh my goodness," Hermione muttered as she took in the room they were standing in. "You can see…."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "I'm going upstairs, are you two coming or are you going to stay down here?"

"We're coming," Hermione said as she took the hand of a stunned Ron.

"I can't believe that, I mean… You can tell what happened here. This is awful Hermione, how did Harry look at this yesterday?"

"I have too many problems today to morn what happened 16 years ago Ron, but I promise you that someday you are going to walk in this house and not be able to tell that my parents died in here, I will make sure of that."

"I believe you Harry." Ron followed Harry and Hermione up the stairs. "If you ignore what we saw on the wall, this looks like a place that I could see you and Ginny living in, with all the family photos on the walls it even looks like you could right now."

The three had arrived outside of the bedroom with the "H" on the door.

Hermione reached for Harry's hand.

"Don't forget that we're here for you Harry."

Harry looked back at the two of his friends before he opened the door.

Inside the room, still nothing had changed. There was still a hole in the side of the room that let the light from outside in, but there did not appear to be a lot of damage to the rest of the room. The hole appeared to have scorch marks around the edges. Harry figured that was where his mother was, and then he heard it. Screams. He fell on his knees as the screams continued.

"Harry," Hermione said. "Harry, what are you hearing?"

"You can't hear it," he asked as the pain of hearing his mother's screams ripped through his gut. He clutched his gut and rocked forward on his knees.

"No mate, it's just your memory. Come on Harry, you're okay." Ron told his friend as he put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

Hermione knelt next to Harry on the floor. "Harry," she said as she reached for his hand. "We are okay, you're just remembering." She waited, watching him as to how he was handling the memory. "Harry, we need to keep going if we want to finish this and get Ginny back."

"I know," he said. "It's just more than I thought it would be. I can feel her here. She was protecting me and… this is the closest that I have ever felt to her." He looked up into Hermione's eyes. "She loved me and I can feel it in here."

"But Harry, you don't have to take it all in now Harry, this is your house now. When we finish you can come back and have all these memories. But Harry," Hermione said patiently. "We need to keep moving. I'm sorry."

Harry took a deep breathe and opened his eyes. "Don't be sorry. I will be okay." Harry stood up and keeping a hold of Hermione's hand helped her to her feet. "Let's go. There does not appear to be anything in here that will help in our search."

As the three wondered through the rest of the house, Harry kept hold of Hermione's hand in hopes to keep his emotions under control. After they had seen two more bedrooms one of which Harry could tell was his parents and he did not do more than glance in at the room, Harry led them back down the stairs.

"You know Harry, if I wasn't sure that you loved my little sister, I might be jealous of how much you are holding my girlfriends hand." Ron said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Harry dropped Hermione's hand.

"Sorry mate. I just guess I needed to know that she was there."

"Ron shut up," Hermione said as she took Harry's hand again. "Harry don't apologize, you are the only brother I know so if you need to hold my hand you do that. Ron can kiss my ass."

Ron smirked as he followed behind his two friends.

Harry took the three into the kitchen and they stopped in the doorway looking in.

"Is it weird that I can see us in here relaxing and hanging out while Gin makes dinner?"

"No Harry," Hermione told him. "And we will, as soon as we are done and Ginny gets home."

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breathe.

"Okay, well I guess we can go," Harry said as he looked at his friends who had stepped next to him. "I don't think that there is anything here that we can use. Let's go back to Grimmwald Place, see if we can figure out how to destroy a horucrux.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

When the three arrived back at Grimmwald Place they went to the kitchen and sat at the table with some of the left over stew from the night before.

"So, Harry," Hermione started. "Where do you want to go from here?"

"I don't know Hermione," he said as he spooned up some of the stew. "What do you think," he asked her as he poured the stew back in his bowl.

"Well, I don't know. What is more important destroying the horucrux that we have or finding more?"

"Finding more," Ron responded quickly. Harry and Hermione both looked up at him. "What? I just think that as long as we have the horucrux, Voldemort can't get it, right? I mean I am more worried about the ones that we don't know where they are, what if he is keeping them as close as he is keeping Nagini? What will we do then?"

"I think you are right," Harry told him. "But I think that we still need to try to figure out both. There is no telling what kind of curses Voldemort put on this locket. I think that we should find someplace safe here to put it so that maybe it can't hurt us. Maybe we can find an iron box, that should contain any damage a spell might do to us. And," Harry paused while still playing with his spoon and stew. "I think it's time Hermione, you're right. I can't put off Hogwarts any longer and I would rather go before the students arrive, that way I might notice a little less that Ginny is gone."

"Harry, mate if you aren't going to eat your stew, can I have it?"

"No, Ron. Harry is going to eat it if I have to force feed him," Hermione said to Ron before turning to Harry and continuing. "Harry, you have to eat. You will not survive what we have to do if you don't eat. I honestly think that if Ginny hears that you did not survive the war then she won't come home. She wouldn't want to come back to us if you aren't here. So eat or I will make you eat," she said as she took her wand out from the folds of her robes and set it on the table next to her in a menacing manner.

"I wouldn't try her mate. I don't think that either of us has truly experienced the wrath of Hermione," Ron said as he tried to look scared of his girlfriend and failed.

"Just try me Ronald Weasley. You have no idea what I can do to you." She was angry with Ron for teasing her about something so serious. "While you guys have been so worried about getting the right "technique" for you to use on us girls, We and I mean Ginny too Harry, have been finding ways to protect ourselves from frisky boys and I can easily use them on stupid boys if you would like," Hermione got up and stormed out of the room. She pushed the door open hard but seeing as it was a swinging door it did not have the effect she was looking for.

"So," Ron said casually to Harry. "You think I made her mad?"

Harry chuckled under his breath, "You think?"

"I think maybe I will go see if I can calm her back down." Ron started out of the room before he turned back and said, "Mate, I would eat that stew if I were you."

"Yeah, yeah, I will."

Ron continued out of the room and up the stairs to the room that the three shared on the second floor. As he got closer to the door he could hear her pacing and mumbling, he was having a hard time not laughing at her antics. She was so passionate, it was one of the things he loved most about her. Ever since first year when he had made that comment about her not having any friends he noticed how when she was happy she had to hug someone and when she was angry or hurt she had to be yelling at someone. He watched her for a minute more through the crack that she had left in the open door.

"Stupid boys… I can't believe them." She didn't understand them at all, she was only trying to make sure that Harry took care of himself and Ron made it sound like she was threatening his life.

"Mione," Ron said softly as he pushed the door open. Hermione whipped around to face him at the sound of his voice. "What happened down there? You got mad and then I tried to tease you but …"

"I don't know," Hermione said as all her anger deflated out of her. "I guess," she started and she sat down on the bed. "I guess that I am just worried." She looked up Ron he had stepped up closer to her. "Harry doesn't think that I am mad at him does he?"

"Well," he said as he sat next to her and took her hands in his. "I think that we both thought that you were madder at me then him. Look I'm sorry. I thought that I was trying to lighten the mood. I know that you worry about us and I was just trying to make you laugh a little."

"I know you were, I'm just…" she paused before trying to explain again. "I'm just scared," she whispered to him as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I don't know what is going to happen next, it's not like class. I can't look ahead in the book to know what we are going to study next and I can't flip back to remember what to do to help Harry solve this problem. I just…wish I knew what to do."

"I know 'Mione," Ron said quietly. "I'm scared too. I can't look at your notes for this test. My guess is Harry feels the same way. None of us know what to do. A very large part of me wishes that I could make you stay at the Borrow with mum. I know that you would protect her and she would protect you. But then the other part of me says that Harry needs you too much to have you that far away from us. You, are the only reason that we have survived six years at Hogwarts with encounters with Voldemort almost every year and Harry and I both know that." He pulled Hermione into his arms and kissed the crown of her head. "I love you but I don't know if we are going to be okay when we come out of this."

The two sat wrapped in each others arms for a few quiet minutes before Ron pulled away from Hermione and looked down into her eyes.

"Will you promise me something?"

"Anything," she said.

"When this is over and we have both survived, promise me you will marry me."

Hermione tried to swallow the emotion that his request brought up and failed. She couldn't form words so she nodded her head and leaned forward to kiss him. When they parted Ron sighed as he rested his head on the top of hers.

"Would you believe that I have wanted to know the answer to that question for over a year?"

"Um, hm," Hermione responded. "We were so stupid Ron, we waited and played games when we could have been happy together." She looked up at him. "We won't be ever again, will we?"

He smiled at her as he shook his head, "Never." The two sat quietly for a little while longer before they decided they should go back downstairs.

They found Harry downstairs in the drawing room looking through the books on the shelves.

"Find anything good mate," Ron asked as he and Hermione came in the room hand in hand.

"Oh," Harry said as he turned around to look at his friends. "I see you found a way to "calm her back down."

Hermione looked at Ron as he smirked and looked at her.

"Yeah, I think I convinced her to not be mad at us. It took some persuasion."

Hermione swatted at him. "He is teasing me again Harry. I'm sorry, I wasn't really mad at you."

"Don't Hermione," Harry said. "I know. And don't worry, I ate all of my lunch," he said with a smirk.

"Harry James Potter, don't get cheeky with me."

Harry and Hermione starred at each other a moment before laughing.

"Okay you two," Ron said. "We need to get something done before we waste an entire day making no progress."

"Wow, Ron. You are usually the one who is trying to distract the two of us from doing our school work," Harry said a little surprised that his friend was reminding them to do work.

"Sorry Harry, I didn't mean anything by it. I just am ready for this to be over," Ron said as he looked at Hermione.

"I know Ron, I am too. I was just surprised," Harry said as he sat on the chair next too the fireplace. "And you're right we need to do something and I think that I may have found something, I am just not sure what I found." Harry opened the cover of the book he had been holding as Ron and Hermione sat on the couch across from him. "I think that it may be a diary," Hermione's eyes almost bugged out of her head at this.

"W-Wh-What?"

"I know Hermione, but this one has writing already in it. And what's more, I think that it might have been Regulus.'"

Hermione jumped up at this and went around the coffee table that was between them to take the book from Harry. She sat on the table and flipped through a couple of pages. She started reading aloud.

June 21, 1979

Well, he had finally decided that I am worthy of his ranks. The Dark Lord says that I am very promising. While I am only just out of Hogwarts, he thinks that I could be very helpful with the recruiting. I am not sure who I would recruit since all of my friends are already trying to become Death Eaters and all of my family is too. Well, except my idiot of a brother, Sirus. He is so stupid like those blood traitor Potter's could really be his family. Blood not factored in, they have no respect for purebloods which is ironic considering that the only Potter to marry a mudblood in four generations is Sirus's best friend, James. Anyways, mum has been on me about a girlfriend again. She wants me to take out Crabbe's sister Adriana, but she is such a bitch. She is not even trying to be a Death Eater. Mum says it okay because she wants to marry one, she just wants to have children right away and won't have time to do the Dark Lord's duties. Well, good luck I say. She would…..

Hermione stopped reading and flipped through some more pages.

March 8, 1980

The Dark Lord is trying to find something, I have no idea what but I sure would like to find it first. I have not figured out everything going on but I overheard a conversation he had with Malfoy the other day and got the impression that he has tried to make himself invincible. I think that he is stupid for that, I mean we are supposed to die and someone needs to take care of him. I can't believe that I wanted to be a Death Eater and now there is no way out.

Hermione looked up at Harry before continuing.

All he does is try to kill people, I can't even tell if he has a reason, like recently he has started worring about the Potters, He had the elder Potters' killed last week, I was supposed to go but said I had to work at the last minute, he seems to have believed it, I have been trying to figure out what he might have done to become indestructible, but I have not found a definitive way. There is a book in father's library that I was trying to read but mum came in to talk about Lucille Goyle. I swear all she cares about is me getting married. I will have to get back to the library, I know that book is going to help figure out what he has done, someone needs to stop him, I think that he may have lost his mind.

The three sat in silence for a few minutes trying to figure out if what they read was the ramblings of a 17-18 year old or if there was anything there.

"So he had my grandparents killed too. I never knew what happened to them, everyone has always talked about my parents but no one ever said that he killed my grandparents too."

"Malfoy knows," Ron said.

"What," Harry asked not having heard what Harry said.

"Malfoy knows, he knows about them." Ron was trying to process what this meant for them. "I wonder if he just knows they exist or if he knows what they are."

"Does it matter," Hermione asked. "He wouldn't help us either way, all that means is that once Voldemort realizes what we're doing he will have someone who knows what we are looking for and can help him protect them."

"Okay, well," Harry started before pausing. "I don't think that this changes any thing for us, at least not yet. So, like I told you earlier I think that it's time we go to Hogwarts. While you were up stairs I contacted McGonagall and asked if we could come to the school. She says that we are welcome to the library any time we want and she said that if we need to stay over night we can have our dorms since we are technically still students, even if we don't plan on going back this year. So we could go back this afternoon, we will have unrestricted access to the library and we could work till we need to stop. Maybe if we do this right we can get the information we need really soon, get this over with."


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Okay so against my better judgement I am combining what I originally had sent up as two story. This is a Ginny update, but Ginny updates will not be very often, there may be more as the story goes on but ... Please read and review, do you like it, hate it?

Ginny folded the piece of parchment before writing "MUM" on the outside. She had considered leaving a note for Harry, but she did not know what to write him. She couldn't tell him the truth, he did not need to know that yet, but he knows her so well that she could not lie to him either, so she decided not to leave a note at all. They were all going to be so mad at her, but it was not about her anymore. Ginny pressed a kiss to the outside of the letter before placing the parchment on her pillow and getting up off the bed. She looked around the room she had grown up in before she picked up her bags that were by her bedroom door.

It was two in the morning so Ginny knew no one would be up yet. As Ginny stepped off the last stair and into the kitchen, she began to second-guess her choice; maybe McGonagall could do something to protect her. "No," she thought, this was the safest way, no, the only way. It was this decision that would protect not only her but also all of her family and Harry.

Ginny grabbed a couple sandwiches from the icebox and some fruit and added it to the smallest bag she was carrying so she could eat later. She started to grab some butterbeers but realized the muggles might not know what it was so she put them back.

As Ginny walked thru the living room on her way to the door she glanced at her mum's clock, her mother was going to flip in the morning when Ginny's hand was no longer pointing to 'home.' She knew that of all people her mum would forgive her when she was able to come home again.

As she walked in the dark of night, she tried to reign in her emotions. She was still angry with Harry even though it was actually the best thing he could have done for her. Even with how angry she was at him, she loved him more every minute. She would not survive if he why she was leaving. She knew leaving was the only option to go with, so she walked on and did not look back.

When she reached the main town of Otter St. Catchpole she walked down the deserted streets to the train station. She did not have a plan for a destination so she picked the train that left first that morning. It happened to be heading to Cowley which was not very far but Ginny thought she would change trains often to reduce to possibility of someone following her.

After the third stop in Barton Hill, Ginny decided to really disappear.

Last spring Hermione had found a spell that made a witch or wizard's magic untraceable. Hermione thought that it would come in handy with the fight against Voldemort. At the time, Ginny did not want to be left behind so she thought it would help her follow them. Now, she knew it would be even more valuable.

Ginny went into the bathroom and said the spell, and then she changed her appearance. As she looked in the mirror her hair went form long and red to short and blonde. Her eyes went from golden brown to a vibrant green, similar to the color of Harry's eyes. She thought it might be away to hold on to who she was by looking into Harry's eyes everyday.

Hours later after two more trains and going into a new country Ginny decided to stop traveling. She had been on a train or changing trains for the last 16 hours. She got off the train in Port Talbot, Wales.

As she walked through the lobby of the small station her eye caught a flyer for a bed and breakfast that was hanging on the wall. She hoped it wasn't far since she was going to have to walk.

Ginny stopped by a grocery store she passed and got a pre-made sandwich to eat while she walked on, she had finished the ones from this morning hours ago. It was getting dark out so Ginny hoped it wasn't too much further.

After about an hour of walking the paved road, not meeting a single car or person, Ginny saw a light in the distance and began to pick up her pace. As she got closer she saw a sign near the road, it said:

"_Muriel's Bed and Breakfast"_

As she finally got to the door the fatigue from the day began to set in. she knocked on the door and leaned against the frame so she did not have to work so hard at holding herself up.

The door opened to a petite woman who was about thirty years old.

"Hello there. Oh dear, are you alright," the woman asked Ginny. "You look exhausted."

"I am," Ginny told her. "I was wondering if you had a room available."

"Of course sweetheart, come on, I'll show you," the woman told her as she reached for Ginny's suit case. The woman took hold of Ginny's arm and led her to the back of the house and to a room that was painted a soft yellow color.

"How much," Ginny asked.

"Don't worry about it dear, we will discuss it in the morning, you just need to get some sleep."

"Thank you," Ginny said as she walked to the bed and lay down and the woman shut the door to the room. Ginny was asleep before the door was shut all the way.

As Ginny opened her eyes she saw that the room she was in was not her own and the reasons for that began to come back to the front of her memory. Ginny laid there for a moment before jumping out of the bed and running to the bathroom that was attached to the room.

She knew things had been too good, she hadn't gotten sick since the night Harry had arrived at her parents home. Ginny sat on the cool tile floor trying to soothe the nausea away. She barely heard the knock on the bedroom door.

"Hello," Ginny heard, she got up off the floor to open the door for the woman.

"Hi," Ginny tried to say brightly as she opened the door to a woman with dark blonde hair and pretty blue eyes.

"Good morning! Oh dear, are you alright, would you like for me to call for a doctor?"

"Oh no that's alright, I'm fine. I want to thank you for letting me stay here last night."

"Oh you're welcome," the woman paused for a moment. "Dear, why don't you freshen up and then come out to the kitchen, I made breakfast."

Ginny cringed at the thought of food. "Okay, I will just be a few minutes."

The woman nodded and headed off down the hall.


	12. Chapter 12

**** Sorry had to make some edits that I noticed last night ****

A few hours later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were making their way from Hogsmead to the gates of Hogwarts. They had found an iron box, in the attic at Grimmwald Place that they put the locket in and they left the box at Grimmwald Place for safety. They had packed a bag for the three of them that had books and clothes and some other things that Hermione thought they would need. They had shrunk the bag and Ron had it in his pocket.

"Do we need to alert Professor McGonagall that we are here or will the gates be open," Hermione asked Harry as she reached for Ron's hand.

"She said that Hagrid would let us in," Harry responded.

They continued on in silence until they arrived at the closed gates to the school. At the gates Harry sent a patronus to Hagrid asking him to let them in, Hagrid came quickly to the gates.

"Hallo, how are you lot?"

"We're fine Hagrid, how are you," Ron responded for the group.

"Can't say that I'm good, but it's not so bad here yet."

"You don't know where Professor McGonagall is, do you?"

"Well, Hermione I can't be sure but I think she is in her office."

"Thanks, Hagrid," Harry said as the group arrived at the front doors to the castle.

"Not a problem," Hagrid bid the three farewell and left them at the doors.

Harry turned from the grounds to open the door to the castle, he was dreading the place without Dumbledore but they needed the library for the success of their mission. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open. The entrance hall was empty, but Harry knew the way to the library after six years of being best friends with Hermione. They headed in the direction of library.

"Okay, I think that Ron and I should look to see if we can locate where the other objects might be. Hermione I think that you should see if you can find anything that might help us destroy them. I don't know if we are on a wild goose chase but I don't know how else for us to go about this," Harry stated determinedly.

"Whatever you say mate," Ron said. "I am not really sure what we are looking for though, I mean I thought that we knew what objects we were looking for."

"We do Ron, but we need to know if there is a way to locate them or if there is any information on them at all. We need to know anything that might prepare us for what is to come," Harry told him as they climbed the last set of stairs on their path to the library.

The three walked into the library and looked around for Madame Pince, they didn't see her but assumed that she was around somewhere. They made a bee line for the restricted section.

"Okay, so let's get started," Harry said as he pulled a random book from off the shelves in front of him. The stack of books on the table built as they went through the books for several hours before they had a reason to stop.

"Good evening."

"Professor," Harry said as he turned to Professor McGonagall who had appeared at the entrance to the restricted section.

"Have you lot had any luck?"

"No, we don't think so," Hermione said. "I'm not even sure how long we have been in here."

"Three hours Miss Granger, I came to see if you wanted something for dinner, we don't have a formal dinner during the summer and I was not sure if you would know that you can call on the house elves, and they are happy to help Miss Granger."

"Thanks Professor, I'm famished," Ron said.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "You're always hungry." She tried to hide her smile. "Thanks Professor, even though I don't like to have to use house elves, I am not sure what else we would do to feed Ron."

Professor McGonagall smiled. "I also wanted to let you all know that if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know. Remus flooed earlier and asked if you all were here and I told him yes, I hope that was okay. I think that he was just worried, he said that had gone to see you and you weren't where he thought you would be. He wouldn't tell me where that is, but I didn't expect him too."

"He can't tell you Professor," Harry said. "He's not the secret keeper."

"Ah, I see. Well then, I will be in my office if you need me, the password is muggle. Good luck." She turned and started to walk away.

"Professor," Hermione said making the Professor turn around and look at her again. "I was wondering where Madame Pince is?"

"Oh, she has gone to see her brother's family in Berlin, she will be gone for the rest of the month."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

"Not a problem Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said before she turned and left the three of them to their research.

"Can we eat now," Ron asked.

"Yeah, we probably should," Harry said. "Could we see a house elf please," he said.

There was a sharp crack before a house elf appeared.

"Mr. Harry Potter, Winky is here for you, what cans Winky get for you?"

"Hey Winky, how have you been?"

"Better miss, what cans Winky get you," Winky asked again.

"Well, Winky we're hungry for some dinner."

"Winky will get Mr. Weezy something to eat," she said and with a crack she was gone.

Harry started to open the book he had pulled down and thought better of it.

"Ron's right Hermione, we need to eat and then we can get back to work after that."

Hermione wanted to argue that they could do both but thought that maybe they needed the break. She put the piece of parchment she had been writing on in the book she had been looking through and closed the book and turned back to the boys.

"Okay, let's take a break and eat."

Ron looked up at her with shock in his eyes before he grabbed his chest.

"What," Hermione said.

"I'm getting ready to die, you are willing for us to take a break, I must be dying." He smiled and winked at her.

"Shut up, you prat," she tried to hide her smile as he walked up and put his arm around her waist.

"Well as 'Mione put it, I'm always hungry and I think we all know what I think of studying, even though this is more important than any studying we have done up to now."

"Okay, let's go to a different area to eat," Harry said as he got up from the table and led them out of the restricted section.

There was a loud crack and then something ran into Harry's legs.

"Harry Potter! Dobby is so sorry he not come sooner, he did not know Harry Potter was here," Harry saw that it was Dobby who had attached himself to Harry's legs.

"Dobby, hey," Harry said as he patted Dobby on the head. "How have you been Dobby?"

Dobby extracted himself from Harry's legs as Harry, Ron and Hermione sat at the table outside of the restricted section.

"Not so good Harry Potter. Some of the other house elves at Hogwarts are really scared and they are not behaving Harry Potter. Dobby is worried too, but he still goes on doing his job. Dobby likes having his job."

"That's good Dobby," Harry said.

"What is Harry Potter doing here? School is not going on, and there are not supposed to be any students, Harry Potter is okay right?"

"Well, not exactly Dobby," Harry said as he looked up at Ron and Hermione who had sat at a table and were watching Harry and Dobby converse. "I have to go on a trip and we are here to um, gather information."

"Oh," Dobby said. "Is there anything Dobby can do for Harry Potter and his friends?"

"Not right now Dobby," Harry said. "Winky is bringing us some food and then we have to get back to our research.

Dobby left the three friends when Winky came back with their food. After the three finished eating they searched for a few more hours with no obvious success with their search.

Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was late. As he looked up he noticed for the first time how dark it had gotten. He looked over to where Ron was and found his friend had fallen asleep on the book he had been looking through.

"Hermione," he said as he turned to find that she was fiendishly writing on some parchment with a pile of used rolled up parchment in front of her. "Hey," he said trying to get her attention. "Have you found anything?"

Hermione looked up at his question.

"Oh," she said as she looked back at her notes. "Maybe, it is not specific as to what kind of curses it will make obsolete but I thought that we could try it. It's a potion, says that Merlin found it very useful but it doesn't say why. I thought that we could ask Professor Dumbledore's portrait if he knew anything about it."

"I don't know if I am ready for that Hermione, but at least one of us made progress. Look at Ron," he turned back to their best friend. "Should I wake him?"

"No," she said with a small smile as she looked at Ron. "Will you see if we need to know a password to get into the common room, I will wake him and we will meet you outside the fat lady."

"Okay," Harry said as he shut the book he had been looking through and put his things away. "See you at the common room." Harry left his best friends in the library and went to find Professor McGonagall.

He wondered the halls with mixed feelings about the place he has loved since he first laid eyes on it. This place held so many of Harry's good memories, but now there were just as many bad. He stopped walking as he reached the bottom of a stair well. He looked up expecting to see a classmate coming down the stairs. This was not a place that was comforting when there weren't hundreds of other students there. It was lonely and quiet.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry turned at the sound of his name.

"Professor, I was looking for you."

"Up the stairwell to the astronomy tower, are you sure?"

"Oh," Harry looked back at the stairs and realized that she was right. "No, I guess not. Though I am supposed to be, we were wondering if there was a password to get into the tower."

"Yes, during the summer the password is Gryffindor, not very original but easy for Professors to remember if they need in."

"Right," he said. "I think that we may be here for a few days if that is alright?" Professor McGonagall nodded. "Could you please not tell the Weasley's that we are here, I don't know that Molly would be able to stay away and I won't be able to leave her again?"

"I won't volunteer the information but I can't lie to Molly either. I think that you can understand that."

"Okay," Harry said understanding that Molly was not an easy person to lie to. "We will try to make our stay brief so you don't have to."

"I will keep my contact with her brief as well, just incase. Is there anything else I can do for you three Mr. Potter?"

"Um," Harry started. "Actually we may need to speak with Professor Dumbledore's portrait at some point if that is alright?"

"Yes, just let me know. Harry," she said to get his attention. "I am here if there is anything that I can do for you, please let me know. I know that I am not Albus, but maybe I can be of some help."

"Not right now Professor, but I will let you know if that changes."

"Alright, well you had better go on to bed then."

Harry nodded and went back the way he came, diverting to the Gryffindor tower midway.


	13. Chapter 13

Twenty minutes later Ginny made sure that her wand was hidden before she left the room to find the woman who owned the place.

"Well now, you look better."

"I am, thank you. Um…." Ginny paused looking for conversation. "So, are you Muriel?"

"Oh no, that was my mum. My name is Nicole. My mum owned this place before she died last year."

"Oh, I am sorry for you loss."

"Don't worry about me, I have come to terms." There was a pause before Nicole continued. "Why don't you tell me your name dear?"

"Oh Gi …. Gwen, my name is Gwen."

"And what brings you to Port Talbot?"

"Oh um,… I am just taking a little vacation." Ginny/Gwen waited to see if Nicole would believe her story, she could not read Nicole's expression. "Actually I was hoping I might be able to get a job, do you know of anything around here?"

Nicole studied the young girl, she knew something was up; this girl couldn't even be 18 yet. "Dear, how old are you?"

"Um…, 18, two months ago, why?"

"You don't look that old. Well, do you want some breakfast? I made eggs, bacon, and toast."

"Just toast, thank you."

"Coffee or tea," Nicole asked as she began to get plates for herself and Gwen.

"Tea is fine."

Nicole brought two plates with food to the table before getting the tea pot from the stove. As she sat down she looked over and saw Gwen eating the eggs like she hadn't seen food in a couple of days.

"I thought you might want more than just toast. So Gwen," Nicole said trying to involve the young girl in a conversation. "What are you really doing here? You accent is a little different so I don't think you're from Wales, and I definitely don't think you're eighteen. But you look well taken care, of minus the fatigue, so someone loves you enough to take care of you. Just so you know, I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth." Nicole looked at the blonde teen that was looking down at the hands she had placed in her lap.

"Well, see, it's kind of complicated." Gwen and Nicole both sat quietly while Gwen gathered her thoughts. "I ran away. My home, well it's not safe right now. There is something like a war going on and my family is involved. On the good side," Gwen added as a second thought. "It just seemed safer for me to leave. I'll go back, just as soon as I know that it is safe."

"Where is there a war going on?"

"Not here, don't worry."

"You aren't going to tell me where you are from, are you?"

"No, I'm sorry," Gwen said looking up at Nicole. "I promise it is better if you don't know."

"Okay," Nicole said trying to figure out why the girl wasn't telling a lot. "So does your family know where you are?"

"No, no one can know."

"But I know."

Gwen looked at the woman before she said, "I think we both know that isn't true."

Nicole couldn't believe the girl confirmed her suspicions.

"So if I know that you are lying to me and that you are not from a safe place, why should I let you stay here?"

"Maybe you shouldn't, but I can't go home yet. Don't you think that I would want to be there to help my family? I can't, they are all going to die and all I can think about is keeping his baby safe!" Gwen's green eyes got big and round as she realized what she said.

"Oh!" That was the only thought that went through Nicole's mind for a moment. "Okay, I understand now."

The two women sat eating breakfast, both in thought.

"Gwen, you can stay here as long as you need to, as long as you help me keep this place running, there is a wedding down the road next week and I will be booked. I'll need your help."

"Thank you Nicole."

Nicole nodded at the girl.

Gwen got up from the table with the dishes. After she washed hers and Nicole's dishes Gwen went back to her room. Gwen lay down on the bed exhausted; she was just going to rest her eyes.

"Gwen? Are you awake?"

Gwen opened her eyes to see Nicole standing at the foot of the bed. She rubbed at the sleep in her eyes as she sat up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know if you wanted to eat lunch."

"Oh, did I fall asleep?"

"Yes," Nicole said with a chuckle. "You've been asleep for three and a half hours. I thought you might need the sleep, but you need to eat for the baby."

"Thank you Nicole," Gwen said as she stood and walked to the bathroom. "I'll be out in just a minute."

When Gwen walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, Nicole was pouring lemonade into a cup at the table.

"So Gwen, have a seat." Gwen and Nicole sat at the table eating the salad that Nicole had prepared for them.

"Okay, so let's talk a little. Tell me, how far along are you?"

Gwen looked up at Nicole, the woman was making small talk. Maybe this was going to be okay. She wasn't pushing Gwen for any information that she couldn't give her. 'Don't get you hope's up Weasley,' she thought.

"Three months, I think."

"You aren't sure?"

"Well, not of the exact time but," Gwen paused before telling her more. "There has only been one guy and we didn't, you know, do anything until… a couple of months ago. It happened more than once over a two or three week period. Then he, uh, broke up with me. So I guess I am not really sure."

"So you could be three or four months? And I am guessing that you aren't taking any prenatal vitamins, right?"

Gwen started to get worried that the baby was in trouble because she didn't pay attention and realize she was pregnant sooner than what she did.

"What are prenatal vitamins," she asked.

"Oh, well they are vitamins you take to make sure the baby is getting everything it needs to be healthy. I will call my friend, Olivia, she is a midwife. She can come by and look you over and see what needs to be done and tell us how far along you are." Nicole stood up from the table to go to the phone and call Olivia.

Gwen sat there, staring at the water in the glass in front of her. 'Could I have already put my baby in danger and not realized it? What am I going to do if the baby is not okay? I can't do this…. I need Harry. But Harry is not safe, and if I want this baby to have a chance at being safe, I can't go back to Harry yet. Please, let this Olivia person say everything is okay.'

Nicole was sitting back at the table looking at Gwen when she looked up from the glass of water.

"You okay?"

Gwen nodded, "I'm just scared. I love this baby so much already, and …" she had to stop herself before she told Nicole everything. "I guess I'm emotional. Did you get a hold of your friend?"

Nicole smiled because she told Gwen this when she got off the phone a few minutes ago.

"Yes, she said that she could stop by in the morning, she lives about an hour away."

"Thank you," Gwen replied as she stood up to clear the table of the dirty dishes.


	14. Chapter 14

Two weeks later, Harry came through the fat lady late again. Ron and Hermione had come back to the dorm hours ago but Harry felt like they were failing and didn't want to call it a night yet.

As he climbed the stairs to the dormitory that he had lived in for the past six years, he worried about their slow progress. After the potion that Hermione found he hoped that they would find another lead so that they could leave and go test the potion. So far, Harry and Ron had no luck on items that the other founders possessed.

Harry pushed open the door to the dorm and noticed that Hermione's bed was empty. He looked at Ron's to see that his friends were lying in the same bed. He was thankful that they were both on top of the covers and asleep but this was a new development. Harry sat on his bed and looked over at his two friends.

He was glad that they appeared to have told each other what he has known for a while. Being the confidant for both of them, he knew how they felt but also knew that it was not his responsibility to tell the other what one told him.

Looking at them, he couldn't help but think of Ginny. He had really messed up with her. If he could ever find her when this was over he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her. As he began to get ready for bed he thought of the brief time they had together last year. He was stupid then too, he waited so long to do something about his feelings for her that they ended up not having a lot of time together. But the time they shared was wonderful.

"Harry? What time is it?"

"It's late Ron go back to sleep," Harry told his friend.

"Are you okay, mate?"

"Ron, please stop asking me that you know the answer," Harry said as he climbed into his bed. "Besides, you look to be doing pretty well."

Ron had the grace to blush at his best friends comment.

"Yeah, sorry, we didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's okay Ron, I'll see you in the morning," Harry said as he rolled away from his friends and tried to get some sleep.

A week later, Professor McGonagall found the three friends huddled around a table in the library.

"Good afternoon," she said. The three looked up at her as she approached them.

"Afternoon Professor," Hermione said.

"Any luck," Professor McGonagall asked.

Hermione looked over at Harry. She was disgruntled with him because he would not go and speak with Professor Dumbledore's portrait about the potion. Harry knew how upset Hermione was with him so he decided to see if they could come to an impasse.

"Professor, I was wondering if Hermione could go speak with Professor Dumbledore," Harry looked back at Hermione with a smirk.

"Sure Harry," Professor McGonagall said before she turned to Hermione to continue. "You can go on up to my office if you like, the password is phoenix. He was awake when I left."

"Thank you Professor," Hermione said as she looked over at Harry and conveyed her thanks to him as well before leaving the library. Harry was satisfied, that would get the answer to her question and get her out of his hair.

"So Mr. Potter, is there anything else I can do to help you?"

"I don't know Professor, we have looked in almost every book that is in here on the founders and we are having no luck."

"Harry!" Ron was shocked that Harry had just revealed what they were looking for. Harry blushed and looked down at the book he had been searching.

"The founders," Professor McGonagall wonder what they could be looking for that was so important. "Well I don't know what you are looking for but," she said as she began to walk toward Madame Pince's office. "There is a book on the founders that we keep behind the desk here. It is not usually loaned out because it is more of rumor based information on the founders." She stepped behind the desk and searched the books on the shelves. Harry and Ron had followed her and were standing in front of the desk. "Ah, here it is, _Tales from the founders we. _ There is obviously no proof but it is believed that the founders themselves wrote this."

Harry took the book from Professor McGonagall and set it on the desk between them.

"Thanks Professor, we promise to put it away when we are finished with it."

"Alright Mr. Potter, I understand." Professor McGonagall started to leave them before turning back with a second thought. "I was asked to let you know that Remus is going to stop by tonight, he would like to see you Harry."

"Thanks Professor, will you let him know where we are?"

"Certainly Mr. Potter," she said. "Good luck," she turned and left them.

"Come on Ron," Harry said as he grabbed the book and made his way back to the table they had been at. "Let's see if this gets us anywhere."

Forty five minutes later Hermione walked into the library to find Harry and Ron laughing.

"Well," she said as she sat down at the table with them. "I hope the lack of work means that you have found what we are looking for?"

"Hermione," Ron said before leaning over and giving her a kiss on her cheek. "What did you find out?"

"Well, I actually have accomplished something." She was still frustrated with Harry and his unwillingness to speak with Dumbledore himself. "The Professor's Portrait said that there is no way to know for sure if the potion we found will be successful until we try it. Though he did say that the potion sounds promising. So," she said as she pushed her hair behind her ear. "I think that we should test it. We can get all of the ingredients in Diagon Alley and it doesn't take long to brew."

"You are probably right, we should test it." Harry agreed with her as he turned the book in front of him around. "Ron and I have found the first place we need to go look to find the cup." Hermione looked at him in shock, before looking down at the book.

"But how," she said. "We have been looking for over three weeks, how did you find it all of a sudden?"

"Professor McGonagall showed us a book about the founders that was hidden."

"Wow," Hermione said. "Three weeks and we get two answers in one day. Though," she said as she looked over at Harry. "We could have had one of these answers weeks ago but someone lost their courage to go and speak with a portrait. Well, now that we have two leads, are we going back to Grimmwald Place?"

"Yeah," Harry answered. "But McGonagall says that Remus is coming by so we should probably wait until he gets here."

"I could go pack for us," Hermione said. "That way we will be ready to leave when he gets here."

"Okay," Harry said. "Ron, want to play wizards chess?"

"Yeah," Ron said. "We will see you later Hermione." Ron went and got the school set that was on a window seat a little ways away. He missed the look that Hermione sent after him.

Ron and Harry played a game of wizarding chess before Hermione returned.

"So Harry," she started as Harry and Ron began there second game. "What do you think we will find at the Hufflepuff castle?"

"At this point," he said. "I have no idea, we could find anything. I think I am more worried about actually finding the castle, any clue where it is?"

"Well, yes actually. _Hogwarts: A History_ says that all four of the founders had castles near here. I don't know exactly where but if we could some how get access to the records in the Ministry then I am sure that we could pin point the exact location."

"Great," Ron said as he looked up from the chess board. "Now if we could just find a way into the Ministry without anyone knowing why."

"Evening," Remus said as he came around a bookcase and found the trio. "How's the search been going?"

"Not well," Hermione said. "Until today," she smiled up at him. "We have something to destroy them and a lead on where to find number four, which would leave us with three more."

"Let's not count it too soon Hermione," Harry said. "How have you been Remus?"

"Pretty good, but I have been worried about you three. I haven't heard from you lot in over three weeks."

"Sorry," Ron said. "Hermione gets a bit intense when she gets to look through books," he said teasing his girlfriend.

"Shut up Ron," she said with a smirk.

"Remus," Harry said. "We were actually going back to Sirus' if you would like to go with us."

"I would love to," he replied. "When were you going?"

"We were waiting on you," Harry told him.

"Then let's go," Remus said. "I can make dinner, while you tell me more about what you have found."

The four made their way to Professor McGonagall's office to use the floo.

"We can go to place I am staying at first and then we can make our way to your place. When you go through the floo, we are going to Queen's Manor," he told them.

The four said their goodbyes to Professor McGonagall before leaving for Queen's Manor.

********PLEASE REVIEW****** THANKS!


	15. Chapter 15

Gwen made sure that she was up early the next morning so that she could help Nicole with breakfast. She was not surprised when she went into the kitchen, to find that Nicole was already awake.

"Well, good morning! You are up early. Does that mean you have recovered from your travels?"

"I think so," Gwen responded to the chipper young woman. "Is there anything I can do to help you with breakfast?"

"You sure can," Nicole said with a smile. "Will you get the eggs out of the refrigerator and scramble them?"

Gwen knew that refrigerator was what muggles called the ice box, so she went to it and opened the door and saw lots of food but she didn't see a basket of eggs.

"I think you're out," she said as she closed the door.

"Am I?" Nicole put down the spoon she was using to stir something on the stove. "I thought I just bought a dozen," she said as she walked to the refrigerator and opened the door. "Um, Gwen?"

"Yes?"

"There are a dozen here," Nicole said as she pulled the egg carton out and showed it to Gwen.

"There are eggs in there?'"

"Where else would you put them," she asked. "Where did your mum keep hers?"

"Well, she kept them…" Gwen worried about how she should respond to the question.

"Oh, your family, are they farmers? I have heard that farmers will just leave them in a basket on the counter or something since they are so fresh."

Gwen looked from Nicole to the carton of eggs that she had taken from Nicole. "No not farmers, but they were fresh." That seemed to be a good enough answer for Nicole.

Gwen walked to the counter and put the carton down and then starred at it. 'Okay, Nicole said to scramble them, and mum has made eggs like that but she used magic and I could make them that way but only,,, I can't. I can't use magic, so how do you scramble eggs without magic.'

"Gwen," a voice said from across the kitchen.

Gwen looked up.

"Have you ever cooked before?"

"Yes," Gwen said. "But I'm not sure that…" she paused as she tried to find the best excuses to use. "I don't think that I remember."

"Oh, well okay, I can walk you through it," Nicole said as she wiped her hands on the apron she had on. "First, you need to get a bowl; a small one will be good. Then you crack 6 eggs, make sure when you drop them into the bowl that there are no shells."

An hour later, Gwen and Nicole were setting the table when there was a knock on the back door.

"That must be Olivia. I figured that she would be here early."

Gwen looked at the clock that Nicole kept in the kitchen above the sink and saw that it was only 7:30.

"Morning," Nicole said as she opened the door to a tall blonde young woman a little older than her. "Liv, I'm so glad you could come. Gwen and I got breakfast ready. Have you eaten?"

"No, I thought you might feed me," Olivia said with a smile.

"Of course, come on. Gwen helped me make it, oh Olivia, this is Gwen. Gwen, Olivia."

"Thank you for coming to do this for me," Gwen said as she smiled at the blonde.

"Not a problem, Gwen." The three women sat down at the table to eat.

The three discussed things like the weather while they ate breakfast. When they were done Gwen started to get up and clear the table.

"Gwen, I can do that," Nicole said. "You and Liv should go talk."

Gwen looked up at Nicole and then glanced at Olivia and nodded her head.

"Why don't we go to your room," Olivia said as she grab the bag she brought in and stood up to follow Gwen.

Nicole looked up from the magazine she was reading as she heard the door to the bedroom open down the hall and waited for the two women to come through the hall.

"Well," Nicole said. "How did it go?"

"Everything looks good. I would say that she is about 16 weeks along. Baby looks healthy and has a strong heartbeat," Olivia said as she step in the room from behind Gwen. "I can come back in a couple weeks and check again. In the mean time Gwen you need to make sure and take those vitamins that I gave you. Make sure you eat well and get plenty of sleep."

"Okay, thanks Olivia," Gwen said. Since the exam was over her nerves had calmed down. Olivia helped her to relax about the health of the baby and she felt even better now that she knew what she needed to be doing to help the baby grow.

"Okay, well I think that I am going to get out of here girls," Olivia said as she walked to the kitchen door that she had come in. "Both of you, call me if you need anything."

"I'll walk you out," Nicole told Olivia.

The two women walked out the door leaving Gwen to herself.

As she shut the door, Nicole turned to her friend.

"Liv, did she tell you anything?"

"No, she was tight lipped about it all. The only thing she would tell me is the time frame that she last slept with the father. I don't know what is going on with her, but I think that she doesn't feel safe. For the sake of the baby, she needs to find a way to feel safe. Because, I don't know that she can take the worry that she is feeling and I know that baby can't handle the stress either."

"Are you sure the baby is okay?"

"The baby seemed fine, her heart rate was elevated and obviously that affected the baby. I don't know if that was just from her being nervous about the exam, but she needs to relax."

"Well, she came to the right place. After Grace and Garrett's wedding next week, I don't have any reservations for the next 7 months. I told her she could help me here, so there won't be a lot of work for us to share."

"Good, take care of her Nic. There is more going on with her than we know."

"I will Liv. I will see you next week, be safe."

"Okay, bye."

Nicole went back to the house to go inside worried about the young girl who had shown up on her doorstep less than 48 hours ago. When she opened the door, the kitchen was empty.


	16. Chapter 16

As Harry fell out of the floo he felt a pair of hands grab his arm to help him stay up right. He looked up into the eyes of Bill Weasley.

"Bill," he said shocked to see the Weasley. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't worry," Bill told him. "Mum's not here. We have all had to move to different safe houses throughout England and this is the one that Fleur and I are at."

"Oh." Harry looked around and saw that Ron and Hermione were dusting themselves off listening to the conversation.

"Bill," Ron said to get his brother's attention. "Is everyone alright?"

"Oh yeah," he said. "As far as I know, we didn't have an attack at the Burrow if that is what you're wondering. We just discovered that some of the wards had been dismantled and we thought that it would be safer for us to separate for a while and go places that others didn't know where they were located."

"What if Ginny comes home," Harry asked.

"She won't Harry," Bill said. "Even if she did, we have people watching the place so someone would see her."

Remus came over to them from where he had been standing talking with a woman Harry recognized but could not remember her name.

"Alright Harry," he said. "We can go if you are ready."

"Wait," Hermione said. "Harry we have an ingredient list that we need filled. Remus, how far are we from Diagon Alley?"

"Not far," he said. "But you can't go there. There was an attack yesterday and it has temporarily closed. You can look through our potion stock and see if we have what you need."

"Thanks," Hermione said softly, shocked by the events relayed to her.

The woman Remus had been talking took stepped forward and volunteered to show Hermione their supplies.

"Who was that," Ron asked as Hermione and the woman disappeared.

"Oh," Remus said. "That is Hestia Jones, I don't think that she was ever at Headquarters when you lot were there. She is an Auror and was on duty a lot."

"Tell them who she really is," Bill teased him. "She's his girlfriend."

"Well," Remus said shyly. "Yes, she is that."

"A girlfriend," Harry said with a smile. "Wow, what's going on? Remus and Ron have girlfriends; the world must be very confused." He was glad he could tease the two of them about it.

"Wait," Bill says. "Did you say," he turned and looked at Ron. "Ronnie has a girlfriend. Well, who? Where have you lot been for Ron to find a girlfriend? NO," he said as the realization hit him. "Hermione?"

Harry laughed at Bill's reaction.

"What is going on out there," they heard a voice from somewhere within the house.

"Oi," Bill said. "Charlie, come here. Ronnie has some news."

Charlie came into the room from a hallway that Harry had not noticed before.

"Hey guys," Charlie said.

"Charlie," Harry said a little anxiously. "Who's with Molly?"

"She went to get Fred and George and take them to another safe house after what happened in Diagon Alley yesterday. What's Ronnie's news?"

Harry breathed a sigh to know that Molly Weasley was not alone.

"Well," Bill started to explain.

"Okay," Hermione said as she walked back in the room with an arm full of potion ingredients. "I have everything we need. Oh, Hello Charlie."

"Hey," Charlie said as he looked over at Hermione. "How long are you lot going to be here?"

"Oh," Ron said. "We are leaving now."

"Wait," Harry said trying to give Charlie a chance to catch on. "We don't have to leave right now. We can stay for a little while." Harry smirked at Ron's frustration.

"Well," Hermione said. "If that is the case, Hestia, can I look some of those books?"

"Certainly," Hestia said. Hermione set the ingredients on a table and followed Hestia back out of the room.

"There goes the girlfriends," Bill said. Charlie snapped his head to Bill.

"Hermione," Charlie said. "Ron got Hermione to bite? What did he do, give her one of the twins love potions?"

"Shut up," Ron said as Bill and Charlie shared a laugh.

"Oh," Remus said speaking up. "Don't worry about him Ron, he is just jealous. He doesn't have a girlfriend."

"He could though," a voice said from the doorway. "He just won't make the first move and won't except the first move when made by the woman."

"Dora," Charlie said. "Please don't do this. You know why."

"Yes," she said with bitterness. "I have heard your excuses but your excuses are other people's reasons. I don't understand you." Tonks walked out of the room and Charlie dropped his head to his chest.

"Charlie…" Ron said. "What was that about? I didn't know that you even knew Tonks."

"Of course he knows Tonks," Bill said. "She was his girlfriend at Hogwarts, they broke up when he left for Romania. She has been trying to get him back since she found out he was home and your brother here is being a complete ass and refusing to on the basis that we are at war and we don't know what will happen."

"Well," Harry said as he went and sat in the chair by the fireplace. "He is right, we don't know what is going to happen. This could all be over tomorrow, and then everyone who survived would be trapped in a world of darkness and despair."

"Harry," Remus said. "You can't think about that, you can handle this. I know that this is a lot to handle but you can do it. Use your resources, Ron and Hermione can help and I have told you I'm here for anything that I can help with."

"Harry," Ron said. "Speaking of that we probably should go, so we can get things moving. Hermione has the potion ingredients." Ron thought a moment before continuing. "Maybe we could leave her here. She would be safe here."

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione had come into the room from behind and heard Ron's comment. "If you think for one moment that you are going to leave me behind you have another thing coming. I am going to be by Harry's side for this even if you don't like it. MAYBE we should leave you here." She picked up the potion ingredients that she had left on the table and turned to Remus. "How do I get out of here?"

"No wait," Harry said. "The three of us are doing this until one of you backs out on your own. I will understand if you do. But Charlie, you should know that I have done what you are doing and if I could go back and change it, I would still be with Ginny. Right now we don't know how many tomorrows we may have but YOU have right now. And Tonks is here for you to have your right now, don't let it slip away because if something happened to her you would always regret it. I know you are worried how she would feel if something happened to you, but what if something happened to her and you were here tomorrow and she wasn't. How would you feel then?"

Everyone in the room thought about what Harry had said for a moment before Charlie left the room and Ron moved toward Hermione.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he said. "Harry is right, he and I can't do this without you, please forgive me."

Hermione turned to him and stepped into his arms whispering in his ear so no one else heard what she said. Ron leaned back and looked at her before kissing her.

"So Harry," Remus asked. "Are you ready?"

"Could we actually eat here Remus," Harry asked. "I think that we could use sometime with our family."

Remus smiled, glad that Harry wanted to take a bit of a break.

"Sure," he said. "Let me go tell Hes to add three more for dinner."

_Please read and review!_


	17. Chapter 17

Four weeks later found Gwen and Nicole sitting in the garden outside the house enjoying a glass of lemonade and laughing.

"Then my brother came down the stairs yelling at him for the fact that his hair was now green," Gwen said with tears coming down her face as she laughed.

"Your family is a hoot," Nicole said. "I can't figure out how he got the shampoo to do that at only 7."

"My brothers were resourceful. They were always playing tricks on the rest of us. My mum could not understand where they got it from."

"So what do they do now? Surely they are using those brilliant minds for something."

"Well," Gwen said sobering up. "Remember my family is involved in that stuff back home, but they have been known to have some inventions. After everything is fine they want to sell joke items, maybe open a joke shop." Gwen knew that wasn't a complete lie, her brothers just wanted to open another joke shop not the first one.

"I know that you aren't going to tell me what all is going on back home for you, but I am glad you are here and maybe one day you will trust me to tell me everything and maybe I can even meet this hilarious family of yours."

"Maybe," Gwen said. "Hey, what time did Liv say she was going to stop by?"

"She said she would be here after she finished lunch, I think that Robert was stopping by to see her."

"Oh," Gwen said. "Well that's good. She deserves to be happy. She nice, and I am glad I am here too. I didn't know where to go, of all the places I could have gone, I am glad I came here."

As the two sat in the shade relaxing Gwen rubbed her small swollen stomach. She was waiting for Liv to show up so she could have another check up. Gwen tried everyday to not worry about Harry and how things were in the wizarding world.

Gwen saw an old pick up truck coming down the lane to Nicole's bed and breakfast. She and Nicole stood and waited for Liv to park the truck and get out.

"Hello girls," Liv said as she slammed the truck door. "How are things at Muriel's?"

"Pretty good," Nicole responded for them. "How was lunch with Robert?"

"Ha, your funny Nicole. I didn't have lunch with Robert," Liv said as her cheeks turned pink. "He had to go to London, a friend of his got hurt and he wanted to go see them."

"London," Gwen said. "How did he get hurt?"

"Robert didn't say," Liv looked from Gwen to Nicole. "Should I be worried?"

"What?" Gwen realized what she had let Liv believe. "Oh, no I was just wondering. So are we ready to see how the baby is?"

Liv smiled at Gwen.

"Better than that, I brought a treat for you. I thought that you might like a sonogram."

"What is a sonogram?"

"Oh, Gwen," Nicole said. "She can show you what the baby looks like and maybe even if it is a boy or girl."

Gwen was shocked.

"You can tell the gender? How?"

"Well," Liv started as she reached back into the car and grabbed her bag and the machine. "The machine takes a picture of the inside of you, kind of like an x ray." Gwen decided not to ask anymore questions because it was only creating more questions like, what is an x ray?

"Okay," Gwen said. "Then let's get started."

Liv and Gwen headed inside to the house to start the exam.

An hour later they emerged from the house laughing.

"Well," Nicole asked as they came over to where she was sitting in the garden.

"The baby is healthy, and so is mommy," Liv told her with a smile.

"And…"

"Well," Gwen started. "I don't know if I want to tell. I always thought that H… he would be the first one I would tell when we had children." She sat down in the chair next to Nicole. "I guess that I can't do that, I probably won't see him until after the baby is born anyway. It's a girl." She was actually surprised with this. "My family is all boys so I just figured that is what I would have."

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah Liv, I am thrilled. Now I just have to figure out what to name her."

"The next question is, do you tell us her real name?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well Gwen," Nicole glanced at Liv as she sat in the chair on the other side of Nicole. "We know that you haven't told us your real name, and you don't tell us anything that is specific, no names, no places, and we understand that you are scared. But you can trust us, you know that right?"

"I know Nicole," she said as she rubbed her stomach. "And I do trust you, both of you, but I can't take any risks. I don't know if I will tell you the baby's real name. I guess it will depend on what I pick."

"Okay, we're here for you either way," Olivia said. "Okay, now since Robert is not going to be in town for a couple of days, and you don't have any guest, and the baby is fine, I vote for a girl's weekend."

"I'm game," Nicole said.

"What?"

"Come on Gwen, you know what a girl's weekend is right?"

"Well, I think the title tells me a little but what would we do?"

"Well," Liv said. "We could go to Birmingham, or I know," she said with excitement. "My sister has a house in Penrhos, oh it is lovely there. We could take books and we could take a drive up to Holyhead."

"Holyhead," Gwen said apprehensively. "I don't know."

"Oh come on Gwen," Nicole said. "We can leave on the 31st and stay for a couple of days. You can sit in a chair and read, we can go into Holyhead and do some shopping, get that baby girl of yours some cute dresses."

"Well," Gwen contemplated the idea. She knew that Holyhead had a large wizard population, but she also knew that she was unrecognizable and they would also be in the muggle world so she should be okay. "Alright I'll go. But I don't have any books to read, do you have any I can borrow."

"You mean you haven't found them," Liv asked. "Nic has more books than a library, any type of book you might think of, vampires, romance, thrillers, mystery, even the classics. Gwen you name it she has it."

"Really," Gwen had to think about this she has never read a muggle book. "I don't know maybe I can take a few different types and see which one I get into."

"Of course," Nicole said. "Come on I will show you my collection." The three women went inside the house to look for books to read and talk about their trip and all the things they were going to do.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

As they sat down to the table for the dinner that Hestia had made, Harry notice someone missing that he thought should be there.

"Bill," he said. "Where's Fleur?"

"Oh, well we found out last week that she's pregnant. She wanted to tell her parents but I can't really leave so I sent her by portkey, she's coming back next week. I can't get her to stay there any longer even though she would be safer in France than England."

"Congratulations Bill," Hermione said.

"Thanks Hermione but I am not sure now is the time for us to have a baby. I mean…"

"Bill, stop," Harry said. "You can't stop living your life because if you do, then he wins. This baby is a good thing," he looked at the faces around the table. "This baby is the future that we are fighting for. Does Molly know yet?"

"Of course," he said with a smile. "I would be dead now if she was **not** the first person we told."

The group enjoyed the roast that Hestia had prepared before Harry, Ron and Hermione got up to leave.

"Remus," Harry said. "How do we get back?"

"I'll take you," he said.

They three said their goodbyes and went out the door behind Remus onto the landing.

"We are still under protection right here," Remus said as he stopped them. "Harry you should use your cloak, and you two," he said looking at Ron and Hermione as Harry started pulling out his cloak. "Follow me, stay close and keep your head down, if something happens get out and get to Hogwarts somehow."

Remus led the two teens, and Harry, down the street. They continued walking a while before the three teens with him recognized where they were. As they approached Grimmwald Place, Harry took in his surroundings to see how safe they were here.

"Remus," he said tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"Two o'clock."

Remus looked in the direction that Harry referred to and saw two figures standing in the shadows of the trees across the street from Grimmwald Place. They were approximately 500 yards from the front door of the house.

"Harry," Remus said. "Get in that house NOW, we'll be just behind you."

"Okay," Harry said as he walked past the three and up to Number 12 Grimmwald Place.

"Remus," Hermione said. "How are we going to get in without them seeing us?"

Remus led the other two teens into the shadows near them.

"Well," he said as he surveyed the people across from Harry's safe house. "There is a back door to the house that I think that I might remember how to find. I only had to use it once when Sirus' lived here with his parents but I think I can find it again." He took a look at the teens huddled behind him. "Come on, follow me and stay close."

Ron and Hermione followed Remus around the back of the strip of houses keeping to the shadows. Remus was trying to remember where the door was hidden, they had only used it once and it was 20 years ago. All of a sudden a door opened and Harry's head appeared.

"HARRY," Hermione scolded. "What if someone sees you?"

"Don't worry and get in here," Harry said opening the door wider. "They are still out front."

"What if they left the front in the time it took you to walk back here," Remus said as he walked through the door and into a hall behind the kitchen. "What if there are more that are watching the back of the house?"

"Calm down both of you," Harry said. "I cast an alert spell that I found in one of those defense books you and Sirus gave me. It shows all the people within a set area that are near you. The only ones that were outside of their homes were you three, the two out front and another two located in front of the house about a block over."

"Oh," Remus said. "That was a good present then?"

Harry gave Remus a smirk.

"Okay," Harry said leading them into the kitchen. "We have work to do so let's get the potion started." Hermione started unloading the bag that she had placed the ingredients in.

"Remus," Hermione said. "Could you hand me that cauldron over there?"

"Sure," Remus said as he turned to get the cauldron for her.

"Okay," Harry said. "So do you want to know what we found?"

"Of course," Remus responded.

"Well," Harry said as he and Remus sat at the table as Hermione and Ron worked around the cauldron. "Hermione found a potion that Merlin used and really all we know is that it can make some curses ineffective. We aren't sure if it will work but we want to try since it is the only thing that we have to go on. Then today we found where we think Hufflepuff's cup may be. The founders all had castles near Hogwarts so what we need," Harry looked at Remus. "We need to get into the hall of records at the Ministry."

"Oh," Remus started. "I don't know that you are going to be able to do that. Since you went to Hogwarts a couple of weeks ago, the Ministry has been taken over by Voldemort's supporters."

"What," Hermione asked as she looked up from where she was putting ingredients into the potion.

"What happened," Harry asked.

"Well," he responded. "We're not real sure as to whether or not Voldemort was there but a group of Death Eaters entered the lobby of the Ministry from different floos at the same time. They then calmly went up to the Ministers offices and killed Scrimgeour. The only thing we can tell is that there were spies inside that kept the alert from getting to people who could help. Our people barely got in place before the Death Eaters turned and started killing others. As it is there are about 20 people dead that had not chosen a side."

"Oh dear," Hermione said. "Anyone we know?"

"Well not directly, mostly some parents of students that you may know, Angelina Johnson's father and the Edgecomb girl's mother. There were a few others but I didn't know their names."

Harry put his head down on the table.

"Mate," Ron said. "Don't blame yourself. There was nothing you could have done."

"I know," Harry said looking up at his friend. "But how are we going to get into the Ministry now?"

"Well," Hermione said. "If you go at night when there are very few there, maybe your cloak would be enough. I mean they think that they are in power so why would they worry too much?"

"Wait," Harry said. "If the Ministry has been taken over what is going to come of Hogwarts?"

"Well, Minerva has been trying to go head to head with Snape. Snape says that since her loyalties are not to the Ministry now and she should not be allowed to be there at all. I think that she and a few of the teachers may have to go into hiding in the next few days."

"How did we not know about this?"

"Well Harry," Remus said. "I know what you are already trying to do and Minerva and I felt that it might be best to let you lot do the most research that you could do before Voldemort takes the school over. She fought as long as she did to give you lot more time."

"Oh Merlin," Harry said. "Hermione's right again. I should have gone to Dumbledore's portrait the first night. We could have probably found all this out a lot sooner if I had just dealt with it. I'm sorry Remus."

"Harry, what are you talking about," Remus said. "None of this is your fault. We will get everyone out of Hogwarts safely and things will be fine."

"Harry," Hermione said. "Either way it's done, you can't regret how you handled something in the past or else we will never get this finished."

"I know but…"

"No Harry," Ron said speaking up. "Like you told Bill, you have to live or he wins. It happened the way it did, maybe for a reason. We may not know why ever but don't regret it. It gave Hermione and I time to figure out that we love each other and we had the space to get accustom to our um…"

"Feelings," Hermione said for him.

"Right, anyways. We have this potion. We can sneak into the ministry and get the address."

"Wait Ron," Remus said. "I may have another idea. Gringotts is trying to stay neutral but Bill says they feel they are going to have to choose sides soon and he is fairly certain that they will choose the light. They may have the information about the founder's castles, someone has to have inherited them at some point and they would have the records."

"But how are we going to get to the goblins and convince them to help us?"

"I think that task is better for Bill, Harry. He works there they are already talking to him about choosing sides, he may be able to convince them that they need to help you and give him the information."

"Okay Remus," Harry said. "I trust you, if you say let Bill do it then I will let Bill do it."

_I am sorry that updates are taking so long. I promise I am working diligently to get you updates in a timely manner. I would love reviews, opinions, or a general acknowledgement of work._


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Thursday morning found Gwen and Nicole rushing around the house gathering last minute supplies while Olivia sat at the table with a cup of coffee.

"Come on you two," Liv said. "I am ready to hit the road, we have an almost 5 hour drive and it will likely rain."

"Okay," Gwen said as she set a bag on the table. "I'm ready, got everything I need." She even had her wand just in case something happened.

"Give me 10 minutes," Nicole said. "I am trying to find my Austen books. We can't leave without Mr. Darcy."

"Who?"

The two other women in the house stopped what they were doing, Liv stared over her cup looking at the blonde in front of her. Nicole peeked around the wall from the hallway.

"You are kidding right?"

"Um," Gwen didn't understand why the shock was from. "No Nicole, I have no idea who Mr. Darcy is. Wait, he is the guy at the farmers market who always gives you an apple?"

"No," Nicole said. "That is Greg, he likes me. But back to the problem, Mr. Darcy is the most wonderful man in the world, the only problem is, he is fictional. So we now know what book you will start with."

An hour later, the girls found themselves on the road headed for a weekend away.

"Are you okay Gwen," Nicole asked. "You have been pretty quiet all day."

"I'm fine; today's just kind of an important day and is making me miss home."

"Oh," Nicole knew that was all she was going to get out of Gwen so she didn't ask anymore questions. "Okay, well I have a question, would you rather your dominant hand be stuck in a bucket of cement or your foot?"

"What," Liv asked."

"Come on, would you rather your dominant hand be stuck in a bucket of cement or your foot?"

"Hum," Gwen thought. "Which foot?"

"Either."

"Well, I think I would say foot. You can still walk with cement on the foot but you can't…" 'use your wand' she thought. "You can't have your hand in cement, it would get heavy."

"I think I agree with Gwen," Liv said.

"Okay," Nicole said as she thought about another one. "Would you rather….."

Hours later Liv turned the car off in front of a large cottage. She looked at her companions and found them both asleep.

"Nic," she said as she patted her friends arm. "We're here."

"Hum," Nicole said groggily. She sat up in her seat and looked around. "Oh, Liv this place is so beautiful. You said it's your sister's?"

"Yeah, her husband's family owns it, but she gave me a key she said no one is ever here." Liv looked in the backseat at the girl who was curled up under a blanket. "Should we wake her?"

"No, let her sleep," Nicole said. "I don't think that she has been sleeping very well at night." The two women got out of the car, got the suitcases out of the trunk and went in the house.

A few minutes later Gwen opened her eyes and noticed that the car was not moving. As she sat up and looked around she saw the cottage. It was beautiful, it was a two story stone structure that had a red door with three windows on each side of the door. On the right side of the house there was a wooden fence that had a gate with a large arch over it that led to a garden. On the left side of the house Gwen saw a small garage that had barn like doors that opened outward.

Gwen opened the car door and got out still staring at the beautiful house. She reached up and pulled her blonde hair up into a pony tail with the elastic band that was on her wrist. She didn't see Nicole or Olivia so she figured that they were already in the house. Gwen decided to follow their lead as she shut the car door and went inside the cottage.

"Hello," Gwen called out as she pushed the door open.

"In here Gwen," she heard Nicole holler back from somewhere on the right side of the house.

Gwen went in search of Nicole and Liv, making sure to take in the pictures and rooms that she passed. As she reached the doorway to the last room she looked up at the picture at the end of the hallway and stopped. She panicked as she recognized the women in the photo.

It was a wedding photo.

"Olivia?"

"Yeah," Liv said as she came to the doorway.

"Who is that?"

"Oh," Liv said as she looked at the photo on the wall. "That is my sister and her husband and his family." She pointed at the photo as she named the people. "That is Isabel, my sister, Jefery, her husband, Gwenog, his sister, um, Mary Ann, his mother and his father is Ludman, odd man but he is a nice man."

"Gwenog Jones," Gwen whispered.

"Wait do you know who she is?"

"What," Gwen said as she tried to shake the shock off. "Um, I, Well…"

"You do," Liv said. "Oh my god! But then…"

"Liv," Nicole said. "What are you two talking about?"

"Um," Liv said still staring at the young lady in front of her. "She was just asking about the picture, nothing important." If only, she thought to herself. Olivia knew about her sister's in – laws, she knew that Jefery's sister was some kind of star. She might not know a lot about the magical world but she knew that this girl knew a lot more than she did. "We need to talk," she whispered to Gwen.

Gwen was panicked, she thought that she would be protected here and now someone knew of her world.

"Gwen," Liv said. "You aren't leaving. Don't even think about it." Liv looked away from Gwen as she walked down the hall and into a room down the way.

Gwen stood in the hall looking at the floor trying not to flee. Liv and Nicole were helping her in ways that if she left she couldn't survive without.

Nicole stood inside the room looking at Gwen in the hall. She was not sure what just happened but she thought that Liv may have just found out something big about Gwen.

"Gwen," she said. "Why don't you come and sit down."

Gwen looked up at Nicole and followed her into the room. Gwen looked around and found herself in what appeared to be a kitchen. In the far corner of the room there was a screen door that appeared to lead to a garden outside. Gwen sat at the table in the middle of the room and looked around. The room was not completely out of date but was not new either.

"Would you like a cup of tea? I just put a pot on."

"Yes please."

Nicole made two cups of tea and took them to the table where she sat and they sipped from their cups in silence.

"Gwen?" Liv said as she walked into the room. "I just talked to my sister, she is coming tomorrow, you should talk with her."

Gwen just watch Olivia as she made herself a cup of tea and sat with her and Nicole. She tried to rack her brain to remember what side of the war Gwenog Jones was on. She wasn't sure but she thought that she was on the side of light. 'Wait' she thought, 'doesn't she have a cousin in the Order?'

"Liv," Gwen started. "Do you know Hestia?"

"I think that I met her at the wedding," Liv thought back to her sister's wedding 5 years ago. "I think that she was the one with the cute boyfriend with the odd name, Remel or something like that."

Gwen coughed on her tea. Oh no.

"Remus?"

"Yeah," Liv said. "You know him too?"

"I think that I need to go." As Gwen got up to leave Nicole grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Please don't," Nicole begged her. "You have been safe so far, and you seem to know these people so, are they good people?"

"Yes," Gwen said as she looked down at Nicole. "They are wonderful people; it's not about them but who might be around them, following them. They know my family and if…" Gwen tried to keep the panic out of her voice. "If my family can find out where I am then the people who are trying to kill them can find out too, and I can't let that happen with my baby on the way."

"Well," Liv thought out loud. "What if you just talk to Iss when she gets here tomorrow? We don't have to tell anyone else who you are or even that you know… you know. We can just get the information that Iss can pass. You said things aren't safe right now, maybe she can tell you when they are."

"I don't have to tell who I am though, do I?"

"Well no," Liv said. "But if you don't tell her something how is she going to know what information is important and what isn't?"

"Trust me," Gwen said as she sat back down. "Anything is important."

The three women had a quiet evening. Nicole felt left out now that Liv knew more about where Gwen was from, and Liv would not tell Nicole anything. She would tell her that it was not important but Nicole knew that was a lie.

Gwen was scared and nervous to meet Liv's sister the next day. She wasn't sure if Isabel was magical or just the Jones family but either way she would likely know who Gwen was. Gwen would just make sure that she didn't reveal her true identity. Her blonde hair would not connect her to her family ever. But her green eyes, they were Harry's. She had done it that way so that when she looked in the mirror she would remember. She was rethinking that. The only person she knew that had eyes this shade of green was Harry, and everyone in the wizarding world was aware of his eye color. Hopefully no one made the connection.

_Don't forget to review!_


	20. Chapter 20

7

Chapter 20

Over the next week, the trio worked on the potion. It would two weeks for the potion to ferment before it was ready for testing.

Remus had spoken with Bill and he said that he would have to speak with the goblins about acquiring the information on the property ownership. When he went in to work that week the goblins told him they needed to think about it. Remus told Harry that should be expected since this would symbolize them picking an official side in this war.

Remus came and went over the week helping the trio with the potion or other research on the location of the mirror. They were also trying to find ways of destroying Nagini and Voldemort without using the killing curse. They knew that the dark magic was not something they really wanted to mess with if they could find another way.

The day of Harry's birthday found the trio eating lunch when Remus came running through the door to the house hollering for Hermione.

"HERMIONE, I NEED YOUR HELP!"

"What is it," Harry asked startled as Remus ran in the kitchen where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating lunch.

"There was an attack at the safe house. Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Tonks and Hes are hiding outside. We need someplace they can stay for a couple of days."

"Go Hermione," Harry said standing up. "Get them in here safe, we'll figure something out."

Hermione and Remus hurried out of the room to let the people outside in. Harry and Ron followed and watched as Bill came in carrying an unconscious Fleur and Tonks was supporting most of Charlie's weight as he stumbled through.

"What happened," Harry asked as the group made their way to the sitting room where Bill laid Fleur on the sofa and Charlie collapsed in a chair.

"I was followed from Gringotts today and they attacked me as I went in the house. Fleur was hit over the head as the ceiling started to fall and Charlie… well I don't know what happened. I'm worried about Fleur," Bill said without taking his eyes from Fleur.

"Let me see what I can do," Hestia said as she came forward to where Fleur lay. Hestia spent a few minutes assessing Fleur before she stood back up and took a deep breath. "She'll be fine, may have a nasty headache when she wakes but other than that she is fine." Hestia turned to Charlie. "Let me have a look at ya." He had sat in a chair near the sofa. "Do you know what happened?"

"Yeah," Charlie said. "The ruddy bastard tried to remove my knee caps. I think it was Flint. He mumbled something about seekers."

"What about the safe house Remus," Harry asked. "Was it destroyed?"

"Yeah," Remus said. "And everything in it. Which wasn't a whole lot but it was Hes's home and now it's gone."

"Don't worry love," she said from where she was working on Charlie's knees. "I had anything of value put in my vault at Gringotts a couple of months ago incase something happened."

"Yeah but-"

"Remus," Hestia said. "If I had a choice of what to loose today, I am glad the house was it. I have you and these friends and my life that is what is important right now." She stood up and looked down at Charlie. "Okay kid," she said with a smile. "Stay off the legs for a couple of hours but you should be good as new in the morning. Now Harry, can I borrow one of the rooms upstairs to reassume Remus that I am fine with loosing only my house today?"

Harry smiled knowingly at the woman before nodding his head.

"Come on Remus," she said as she started pulling him from the room. "I need to show you how alive I am."

Remus smirked back at Harry as he disappeared around the doorframe and into the hall.

"Too bad," Charlie said shaking his head.

"What's too bad," Ron asked his brother.

"I have to stay off my legs for a few hours, Tonks can't reassure me of how alive she is," he responded with a smirk at his girlfriend.

"Who said I was going too," she said with disbelieving look before she smiled and leaned down to give him a fleeting kiss.

"Bill," Hermione asked from where she was standing behind the couch Fleur was on. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I don't think so," he said looking up at her. "Hestia said she'll be fine when she wakes, I guess I just need to be patient."

"You could just let her smell one of Harry's socks," Ron said under his breath earning a smirk and an elbow in his ribs from his girlfriend. "It would wake her up and you know it."

"Ron," Harry said from the other side of the room. "I could make you sleep outside with the death eater's."

"Yeah Ron," Charlie said. "Don't piss off the nice man who is letting you stay here for free."

"Come on," Harry said as he headed out of the room. "Let's leave the older brothers with their girls. We still have to figure out where the mirror could be anyways." Ron and Hermione started to the door to follow Harry when he leaned his head back through the doorway. "Hey Bill, did you get an answer from the goblins yet?"

"Yeah," Bill said looking up from his wife. "They told me that Amos Diggory actually holds the deed."

"Diggory?" Hermione asked with confusion.

"Yeah," Bill said. "It was actually through his wife's side of the family but when she died and then Cedric… It was left to him. I think that he is staying at the safe house in Abbey Town. Remus will have the information for you to contact him, but according to Gripphook he hasn't ever been there. He was notified sometime after Cedric died but…"

"Wow," Ron said. "Harry, Ravenclaw and Huffelpuff? Do you think Voldemort knew that when he…?"

"I don't know," Harry told him. "It seems like a coincident. You can't be sure with Voldemort but he was away for so long that even if he knew that it was Mr. Diggory and his wife he would not have known that Cedric was with me."

"Unless Barty Jr. told him," Hermione said softly.

"It doesn't matter," Harry said waking out of the room again.

"Harry," Ron said as he followed him. "Why doesn't it matter? This could be important."

"No," Harry said as he sat at the kitchen table in front of the notes he still had laid out next to his lunch. "What's important is the Horcruxes. We have to get those taken care of first, the founders and their heirs only matter for what information they can give us."

"But…" Hermione tried to say.

"NO," Harry barked at his friends. "Getting Ginny back is the only thing I care about, and she's not coming back until Voldemort is gone and the only way to do that is to get rid of the Horcruxes. I don't care who is the heir to Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin, or even Merlin. All I care about is Gin," Harry buried his head in his arms on the table trying to calm himself down. Ron and Hermione left the kitchen quietly to leave their friend alone to deal with his emotions.

"Harry," Remus said as he came into the kitchen. "Ron said that…" Remus noticed that the young man was asleep with his head on the table. "Hey," he said as he shook Harry's shoulder lightly. "Harry, wake up."

"Rem," Harry said groggily. "Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah," Remus said. "Ron said you were upset, I thought I would come see how you're doing."

"I'm fine," Harry responded. "I miss Gin and wish I could end this but I can't do things on my time."

"No," Remus said. "Things have to happen on their own time. Like how we now have the location to the Hufflepuff castle. Tonks contacted the safe house in Abbey Town and spoke with Amos. He is coming in the morning to take you, Ron, and Hermione to the castle." Remus looked at the sullen teen sitting at the table. "Can you wait that long?"

"Yeah, I guess. Hermione says the potion has another week. Do you think you could stay here until we get back and watch it? I don't know if we will be there for a while or what."

"No problem kid."

"How did you do this the first time?"

"Well," Remus thought. "You just get through one thing, one day… Then you wake up and do it again. You keep pushing so that your best friend's son, or your girlfriend can have a tomorrow. It helped last time that I had Sirius, James, Lily, you and even Hes."

"You've been with Hestia THAT long?"

Remus smirked at Harry's shock.

"Not exactly. After I lost everyone I loved, James, Lily, you, Peter and feeling betrayed by Sirius I… Well I kind of left everyone else behind. They wouldn't let me have custody of you and all my best friends were gone so I pushed Hestia away. Lucky for me she was still single when I got my act together 13 years later."

"It helps she was still madly in love with you," a voice said from behind Remus in the doorway.

Remus turned as Hestia came over to him and put an arm around him.

"Be patient Harry," Hestia told him. "Everything will play out. I know you miss your girl but you have a job to do."

"Did Rem-"

"No," Hestia interrupted. "Remus didn't tell me anything but I was in the order before and I here now. I know that something is going on and for some reason you are going to play a large part in the ending of this war."

"Come on Harry," Remus said. "We are all in the library entertaining ourselves tonight. It may not be a birthday party but you should be able to enjoy a little bit tonight."

The group sat together for the rest of the evening playing chess and eating dinner and trying to have a peaceful night after the events of the day. Harry went to bed that night hoping that he would see a certain red head on his next birthday.

_A/N: Sorry the update took so long, it's hard to find the motivation to work on a story that you are fairly certain no one likes. Please review, my creative juices are slowing and I need the motivation!_


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The next morning Nicole woke and found Gwen outside in the garden with a blanket around her shoulders.

"Morning," she said as she sat down in a chair with her cup of coffee.

"Morning," Gwen said distractedly. She had been up for a couple of hours already. The baby had a restless night, so she did not sleep well.

"So are you ready for Liv's sister to get here?"

Gwen looked up at Nicole, she knew the woman was disappointed in not knowing what was going on, but Gwen didn't feel that she could tell her yet.

"No, not really, I didn't want anyone to know who I was or where I was from. I thought that I was far enough away. I could have gone farther but I didn't want to be so far that I wouldn't know when I could go home. Apparently I should have gone farther."

"Gwen," Liv said from the doorway to the house. "Just because I know what you are or where you're from doesn't mean that Iss is going to be able to figure out who you are. And trust me, if I tell her that you need to be safe she won't tell a sole. Think about it, she married into…" she raised her eyebrows to let Gwen know what she meant. "And she told me about it, does that happen often?"

"Well," Gwen said. "I don't really know, I have never encountered the situation but I would guess, probably not."

"That is what she said," Liv sat with Nicole and Gwen to keep talking with them. "She said that I could be in trouble if anyone knew that I knew."

"She's probably right," Gwen said.

"Well, what about me," Nicole asked. "Why can't I know, I mean you live with me Gwen? And Liv, you have been my best friend forever, why can't I know?"

"Nicole, if Iss says that it's safe, I will tell you, but we need to talk to her first." Liv felt sorry for her friend, she couldn't understand what was going on.

"When is she going to be here," Gwen asked.

"Actually I expect her just anytime, she was at her sister in laws over in Holyhead, so she did not have far to travel."

"Okay," Nicole said. "Does anyone want breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry," Gwen said.

"But you need to eat," Liv told her. "Let me help you Nicole," she said as she and Nicole got up and went in the cottage to start breakfast.

Ten minutes later Gwen looked up at the laughing that she heard and found Liv headed back outside with a woman who looked just like her but with longer hair.

"Hi," the woman said with a big smile. "You must be Gwen. I hear that we need to talk. I'm Isabel Jones."

Gwen stood up to shake Isabel's hand.

"Gwen," Gwen was very apprehensive about this meeting. "I first need to ask how you are, um, related to…"

"Oh, yes," Isabel said. "My husband Jefery, is a pureblood, I am a muggle. I have a step daughter, Michelle, who is a student at Hogwarts, and Liv," she turned to her sister smiling. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh my god, Iss that is great," Liv hugged her sister as Gwen processed the information she was given.

She knew that Luna had a dorm mate named Michelle but was it the same Michelle. If she was a muggle that would mean that they were on her side of the war.

"What house is she in," Gwen asked.

Isabel sobered from her happiness with her sister to answer Gwen's question.

"Ravenclaw."

"She is going to be a sixth year, right?"

"Yeah, do you know her?"

"Not exactly," Gwen wasn't sure how much she could trust this woman. "Um, do you know…" she was worried about the answer to this question. "Hestia Jones?"

"Yeah," Isabel said, knowing that this would have to be a child of someone important. Her husband's cousin was an auror with the Ministry of Magic and as such did not meet many new people. "How do you know Hes?"

Gwen wasn't sure if she wanted to answer this question.

"Um…," Gwen was contemplating what to tell Isabel. "She knows some friends of mine."

"Liv said you know Remus."

Gwen closed her eyes and lowered her head; this woman was encroaching too much into her safety.

"Professor Lupin taught at Hogwarts 4 year ago."

"Oh," Isabel knew the young lady in front of her was not telling her everything. "So Gwen, who are you really?"

Gwen looked up at Isabel's question.

"I'm not going to tell you that." Gwen and Isabel stared at each other for a moment each trying to decide how to handle the situation.

"Isabel?"

All three women looked up at the voice coming from the doorway. Gwen was shocked at who stood in the doorway.

"Gwenog," Isabel said. "What are you doing here?"

"We have a problem," Gwenog said as she walked toward them.

"What is it?"

"Well," Gwenog was unsure if she could speak freely in front of the young girl that was with her sister in law.

"Don't worry about her Gwenog," Iss said seeing Gwenog's hesitance. "She won't tell us who she is but she is magical."

"Oh, well okay, there was an attack. Someone contacted us to let us know that Hestia has gone into hiding. She was in a safe house somewhere outside of London and it is no longer safe."

"Oh god," Gwen said as she put her head in her hands. She worried that her family had been there. She knew that it was possible for Hestia to be somewhere near her family and she knew that she was not aware of the location of all their safe houses, she only knew that Hestia would be in one with some of her family and friends. "Was anyone hurt?"

Gwenog didn't know what to think about the reaction of the young girl.

"They said that there were some injuries but that everyone would be fine."

Gwenog and Isabell exchanged a look.

"Who are you worried about Gwen?"

"All of them," Gwen said as she looked up and into Isabel's eyes. "You might think that I am being ridiculous not telling you who I am, but my entire family and everyone who is important to me is deeply involved in this war. The man I love is risking his life everyday because of a crazy man." Gwen was panicking and she couldn't control her fear.

"Gwen," Liv said seeing the struggle the girl was having. "You need to calm down dear. If you can't handle the stress, neither can the baby."

Gwen tried to take some deep breathes to calm herself knowing that Liv was right.

Gwenog was still a little confused of the situation.

"Could someone tell me what is going on here?"

"We just came for a girl's weekend and Gwen was looking at some picture around the house," Liv said. "She recognized a picture of you and couldn't hide it from me. Iss came so that we could figure out what we each knew and didn't know."

"I think we have found that Gwen is more involved in this than we are," Iss said to Gwenog.

Gwenog tried to think who this girl could be. There were lots of people missing, many assume dead but she wasn't sure who this was.

"So, Gwen I assume that you are not a Voldemort supporter," Gwenog asked.

"Of course not," she said.

"Are you staying with Olivia?"

"No," Gwen told her. "I am staying with Nicole at her B & B. Liv is helping me with the pregnancy. But Gwenog, no one can know that I'm here. When you go back and talk to Hestia, you can't mention me at all, if anyone finds out I am here it could put me and my baby at risk, it could also put the baby's father at risk and I can't have anything happen to him."

"I understand your worry," Gwenog still wondered who she was. "It sounds like you may be closer to this than we think. Look, I know that when you go back to Port Talbot you are going to want to keep up with what is going on; maybe Isabel here can call Olivia with updates. If anyone is keeping tabs on our family it won't look weird for Isabel to keep up with her family."

"But Gwenog," Gwen said. "Isabel and your family are not safe because Isabel is a muggle. The Death Eaters are searching for people that think muggles are equal. What if you need to go into hiding? Does your family have a safe house, because you are going to need one? This is war, and it is more serious than anyone realizes."

"Gwen," Gwenog said. "What do you know that we don't?"

"That is just it, I don't know," Gwen said. "I might be more connected than you think but that doesn't mean that I get to know. I am not of age so my family tries to not tell me everything."

Gwenog realized that this young girl was scared of what she didn't know, which worried Gwenog.

"Okay," Gwenog said. "So since you at least know more than we do, what do we need to do?"

"Hide," Gwen said. "Isabell, you can't send Michelle back to Hogwarts in a month. I don't know who is going to be in control, but it is not likely to be the side of the light. Being a half blood, she as at more risk."

"Then you," Liv questioned.

"Probably not," Gwen whispered.

"Oh dear Merlin," Gwenog said suddenly, looking hard at Gwen. "Those eyes… They look just like… But…"

"STOP!" Gwen knew that Gwenog had figured out just HOW close she was.

"Do you have a glamour charm, or a potion?"

"It's a charm," Gwen said looking Gwenog in the eye. "Not as easy to detect as a glamour charm, nor as easy to remove. You can't know who I am, do you see that yet."

"You know that I have a pretty good guess. Hes, maybe my cousin but she is one of my best friends too."

"Merlin," Gwen said as she buried her face in her hands again in frustration. "Okay, so you know who I am. You know I'm pregnant. You can't go back now. You know too much." Gwen shook her head as she stood and began to pace. "You'll just have to stay hidden here, but I have to leave. Maybe I can make it to…"

"No," Nicole said from the entrance from the house. "You can't leave Gwen, the baby needs the safety that we can give you at my home. Just because these people might know who you are doesn't mean that you need to run away."

"She's right… Gwen," Gwenog said. "Just because I know who you are doesn't change anything. I am only one person and the Death Eaters would have to know to ask me if I was caught. The Hestia connection is too distant for the Death Eaters to be smart enough to follow it."

Gwen smirked. Gwenog was right about that at least, minus Snape, they weren't the smartest cookies in the jar. But Snape would know, wouldn't he.

"Gwenog," Gwen started slowly as she turned and went back to the chair she had been in. "Do you know how long Hes has been in the Order?"

"She's been in it since two years ago I think," Gwenog said. "Her boyfriend got her in."

"Remus?"

"Yeah," Gwenog replied. "They have been together off and on for the last 17, 18 years but only in the last 3 or so have they been serious. She said that if it wasn't for the war, they would likely be married."

"How well does she know the members?"

"She knows you, of that I'm sure."

"I know," Gwen told her. "I am more worried about the spy that they had."

"Oh," Gwenog said. "I know she knew there was a spy and her boyfriend was in a high position so she may have known who it was, but she works for the Ministry more than doing missions for the Order. She says that some of the other Aurors who are Order members take care of missions while she and a few others focus on the Ministry so that they can make sure everything gets taken care of."

"You two sound awfully close."

"We are Gwen," Gwenog told her. "But with my career the way it has been, we talk as much as we can when we can. I get everything I can from her then, if it wasn't for my career we would probably still be roommates. We are 4 months apart and were in the same year and house at Hogwarts. She is one of the most important people I know."

"Then the trace to you will be easy, I am-"

"No," Gwenog said. "The trace to ME will be easy, but the trace will end with Isabell."

"I thought you said they would expect her to keep up with her family?"

"Gwen listen," Gwenog said getting frustrated. "Yes it is possible that they will trace Olivia from Isabell BUT even if they go Port Talbot they still won't find you. Your charms are very good, unless you do something they won't know. If you keep on the move you nor the baby will be safe and I know you don't want to risk the baby, that is the reason that you are here in the first place."

"Okay," Olivia said seeing that the conversation was draining not only Gwenog and her frustrations but also Gwen and that was not safe for the baby. "Gwen you need to relax and this is not how to do it. You should go inside and take a nap, or at least lay down. Gwenog chill out, go get something to eat. We can make sure that Jefery and Michelle can get here soon."

"Brad," Gwenog said. "Iss get Jefery to bring Brad with him."

"Okay," Isabell said. She was over whelmed by all that the two women had been discussing and was still in shock.

_A little longer than normal, I know, but there really wasn't an easy place to break. I apologize that the update too a while but I am having trouble with the next series of chapters and it is stalling me. I will update as I can but I need inspiration for the physical drama. Review and let me know what you think._


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Harry came downstairs the next morning to find Fleur and Tonks standing at the kitchen counter talking and making breakfast.

"Morning," he said as he sat at the table.

"Morning," the women said.

"Morning Harry," Hestia said as she came out of the panty with a large can of coffee. "Remus and Hermione went to get Amos already, he should be here shortly."

"Oh," Harry said surprised that so much was going on so early. "Did I wake up late?"

"No," Hestia said with a smile. "The girls and I get up this early every morning and Hermione was having trouble sleeping, so I woke Remus so they could get Amos." She looked over at him before winking, "Don't worry though, the Weasley boys are all still asleep."

"I knew Ron was," Harry told her with a smirk. "I was always the second awake when I stayed at the Borrow during the summers. Mrs. Weasley was always the first but the rest of them…"

"Yeah," Tonks said. "I have never woken up after Charlie."

"That's because I'm smart and get as much sleep as I can," said the sleepy redhead that had just come into the kitchen. He went over to Tonks and kissed her cheek before pouring a cup of black coffee and taking a long sip. "Ummm, good coffee Hes, and in defense of my brothers, we had to sleep when we could when we were younger because you never knew when the twins would blow something else up."

"Morning," Remus said as he came in the door with Hermione and a man Harry assumed was Amos Diggory.

"Harry," Hermione said as she walked over to where he was sitting at the table. "This is Mr. Diggory."

"Pleasure sir," Harry said as he stood and shook the man's hand. Amos nodded.

"Amos," Hestia asked from in front of the sink where she appeared to be cutting fruit. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Please Hestia," he said politely. "That would be lovely."

"Where's Ron," Hermione asked quietly.

"Still in bed I suppose," Harry told her.

"I'll go wake him," Hermione told Harry. "He'll want to eat before we leave." Hermione slipped out of the kitchen quietly.

"Mr. Diggory," Harry said addressing the man who had sat across from him. Hestia placed a cup of coffee in front of the man as he looked up at Harry in response. "Did Remus let you know what we need?"

"They told me that you needed into the Hufflepuff Castle, Remus said you are looking for something but he didn't tell me what."

"Good," Harry said. "Unfortunately I can't tell you either, I need you to trust me."

"You have my complete faith Harry," Amos told the boy softly. "I'll take you wherever you need to go."

"Ron and Hermione will be down soon," Harry told the man. "We can leave after we eat. I don't know how long we will be there though. We are looking for something and aren't sure where it is."

"Once I take you there, you'll be fine to stay," Amos told Harry. "Even without me."

"Thanks Mr. Diggory."

"Harry," Amos said. "Please you should call me Amos."

Hermione pushed open the door to the room the she was sharing with Harry and Ron, to find the red head with his head buried under the covers. She walked over to the bed and sat next to him, resting her hand where she thought the middle of his back was.

"Ron," she tried to wake him gently. "It's time to wake up."

"Five more minutes mum," Ron mumbled.

Hermione smirked and smacked his bum through the blanket.

"Ronald Weasley," she said with mock angry. "I am not your mother and if you ever want to kiss me again you will wake up right now!"

"Hermione," he said as he rolled over and looked up at her. "Did you just hit my bum?"

She smirked at him.

"Maybe."

Ron reached up and pulled her down to him by the back of her neck, when he face was right in front of his, he kissed her soundly on the lips.

"You love," he said softly. "Can smack my bum any time you want."

Hermione smiled and kissed him.

"We need to get up," Hermione said as they separated. "Mr. Diggory is here and you know Harry will want to get started right away."

"Harry will," Ron questioned her.

"Okay," she conceded. "I want to get started."

"Alright," he said pushing up and off the bed. "I'm up, give me a minute and I will get dressed."

"Okay," Hermione said leaning back on against the head of the bed with a smirk.

"Are you going to watch me?"

"Yep, come on hurry up."

Ron quickly changed his clothes and followed his girlfriend down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Harry," Hestia said as she walked up to the young man sitting at the table. "We are trying to find another place to go so that you can have your space back. I don't know where we'll be when you get back, but I'll make sure Remus checks in on you."

"Thanks Hestia," Harry said looking up at the woman. "You aren't in my way, I just don't know if this is really a safe place."

"Morning," Ron said as he and Hermione came into the kitchen holding hands. "You must be Mr. Diggory, Ron Weasley," he said as he reached a hand out to the unfamiliar man in the kitchen.

"Amos," the man said. "So when do you want to head over to the castle?"

"We had better let Ron eat," Harry said as his friend sat at the table and began piling food on his plate. "I can assure no one wants to be around him when he hasn't eaten."

"Hush up Harry," Ron grumbled. "You aren't wonderful when you're hungry either."

"Hush both of you," Hermione interrupted. "We need to leave soon so we can get back, so finish eating."

"You three certainly make a pair," Charlie said from where he was sitting across from Ron and Harry. "Let's see, Harry, you're the leader. Hermione you are the brains, mother and disciplinarian. What does that make you Ron, it can't be comic relief, you don't have a twin?"

"He the strategist," Hermione told him. "You should know that though, he has beaten all of you in chess since he was… what 10?"

"Wow," Charlie said. "Your girlfriend is defending you from being teased by your brothers. You better keep her Ron; she's one of the good ones."

"I know," Ron said taking Hermione's hand under the table and giving it a reassuring squeeze, as she blushed.

"Okay," Harry said as he pushed his plate away. "Let's get going."

Harry stood and Amos, Ron and Hermione followed him out of the kitchen to the den, where they were going to use the floo.

"Okay," Amos said. "I'll go first and hold open the floo, it's shuts automatically for protection. The tag is Badger Palace." He turned and led the way through the floo.

"Here we go," Harry said taking a deep breath and following the man.

_A/N: again sorry it took so long. I know where the story is going; I am just having a small block on how to get there. I would appreciate a review if you have an extra moment._


End file.
